REPORT

Heatstroke alerts were issued today across 17 prefectures—Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita, Fukuoka, Yamaguchi, Kochi, Ehime, Kagawa, Tokushima, Hiroshima, Wakayama, Hyogo, Mie, Toyama, and Yamanashi—as temperatures nationwide climbed to their highest levels of the year so far. At the Tsugaike Nature Park, however, it was just 19°C at around 9 a.m. With the temperature still below 20°C and a light southwesterly breeze blowing steadily, it even felt surprisingly cool.
[Watasuge Marsh]

As the kobaikei-so flowers begin to fade, the Nikkokisuge have taken center stage, reaching their peak across the marshes. Their vivid orange flowers stood out beautifully against the lush green surroundings today, creating a classic summer scene. Along the loop trail at the Ukishima Marsh (pictured), many visitors could be seen walking a short distance, stopping to admire the view or examine the Nikkokisuge and other flowers up close, then continuing on at an unhurried pace.
[Ukishima Marsh]

The gozen tachibana and kinugasa-so are also nearing the end of their flowering season. I met two visitors from Chiba and Yamanashi prefectures (pictured) who told me, “When we came previously, the marshes were still covered in snow and the only flowers we saw were mizubasho. Today there are all kinds of flowers in bloom, which has made the walk much more enjoyable. We kept stopping to take photos, so it took us quite a while to get this far,” they added with a laugh.
[Ukishima Marsh・Ginmeisui Spring]

Hiogi-ayame irises were also at their peak throughout the marshes. Meanwhile, Oba-senkyu and iwa-shobu were producing more flowers, while kuruma-yuri, Ibuki-torano, Otakara-ko, and Shirouma-asatsuki had just begun to bloom. Along the forest trails, fresh blooms of ohyotanboku, oba-takeshima ran, and oba-mizohozuki could also be seen.
[Watasuge Marsh]

　　
[Tsugaike Nature Park Opening Information]
*Period … 6/6 (Sat.) to 10/25 (Sun.), 2026
*Hours … Tsugaike Ropeway: Open from 8:00 a.m. on weekdays until 7/17 (Fri.) & weekdays from 8/17 (Mon.) / 7:00 a.m.- on 7/11 (Sat.), 7/12 (Sun.) & daily from 7/18 (Sat.) to 8/16 (Sun.) / 7:30 a.m.- on weekends from 8/22 (Sat.) to 8/30 (Sun.)
*Fees … Tsugaike Ropeway Roundtrip + Entrance Fee / Adults JPY4,000, Elementary School Students JPY2,200, One preschooler free per paying adult → Advance Discount Tickets: Adults JPY3,500, Children JPY1,950! (Skip the ticket window! Go straight to the gondola gate.)

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi