Arakawa Panorama park is a fun ‘park’ on the top of a hill in Konosu. I put ‘park’ in inverted commas, because its really more of a playground. But it is a nice place to walk, as it is located along an embankment. Moreover, it has particularly stunning cherry blossoms and is the perfect place for hanami with kids. As the crow flies, its relatively close to Cosmos Arena Fukiage, which is famous for its cosmos. Unfortunately, they have already finished for the year. The plan was to get this post out before the cosmos bloomed, but I just didn’t have a chance. And before that I had planned to get it published for summer, because there is a lovely water play feature in the park. But, well here we are in November! However, publishing this today will ensure information is online in plenty of time for the 2025 sakura season!
Arakawa Panorama Park
The playground in Arakawa Panorama Park is a bit different to the norm. It has a nice 38 meter roller-slide that, in spring, is fringed by cherry blossoms. There are several other small pieces of equipment too, including a tarzan rope. And plenty of space to picnic. There is also a hill that kids enjoy running up and down. Furthermore, it has a lovely water fountain that showers water from above as well as jets from below. Its pictured above, the last photo of the three, with cherry blossoms in the background. They only turn the water on in the summer.
Cherry blossoms – Somei Yoshino AND Yaezakura
The somei yoshino are somewhat known in the park, but incredibly it is lesser known for its yaezakura. During the somei yoshino season the park is quite busy, but during the yaezakura there are very few there. If you have followed my blog or any of my social media for long, you’ll know that yaezakura are my favourite type of cherry blossom (followed closely by Jindai Akebono!) So I am always on the look out for yaezakura spots. On a visit to the park for the somei yoshino I clocked the yaezakura trees and this year I went back in season to see them. It was April 12th when I visited and the somei yoshino were still in bloom, although only just! Some of them were already half green. And the yaezakura were just beginning to start to bloom. It is rare, and wonderful, to see somei yoshino and yaezakura blooming together. The second photo above shows somei yoshino and yaezakura side by side.
Information
Park: Arakawa Panorama Park, 1366 Oashi, Konosu, Saitama 369-0137.
Hours: 24 hours, but there is limited lighting in the park. Also, its on one side there is a cliff – there is a fence in front of it, but still, so it wouldn’t be ideal in the dark!
Access: there is a small parking lot of ten cars. Along the embankment it is a 20 to 25 minute walk to Cosmos Arena Fukiage. Buses go to that facility frequently. But the park is also only about a 25 minute walk from Fukiage station on the JR Takasaki line.
Official brochure on the Konosu City website.
sssshhh dont give away yakuza secrets… oh wait i misread… 😛