Kuno Flower Garden near Iidaoka Station

by Shawn Thir

Where: Located up the hill from Iidaoka Station on the Daiyuzan Line

Closer to home, I highly recommend the Kuno Flower
Garden in Odawara. It is bedside the incinerator on top
of the hill near the Japan Tobacco factory. The
garden offers year round viewing with Ume in the winter,
some sakura for the spring, loads of hydrangeas for
the summer and lots of maples for leaf viewing in the
fall.

When I went there on the weekend, they had an open air
farmer's market, mainly dealing in flowers and gardening
supplies but you could also pick up some local fruit and
vegetables for dirt cheap. There's tons of space at the
garden for a picnic or, if you're more active, there is
also a huge paved open space that would be perfect for
roller blading. Check it out.

Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History

This surprisingly good earth science museum in Odawara is located near Iriuda Station on the Hakone-Tozan train line. Check out the link below for a map and more information in Japanese. It is well worth a visit on a rainy day or if you want a break from the heat of summer. Great for the kids too--dinosaurs, mammoths, insects galore!

http://nh.kanagawa-museum.jp/index.html

"Inside the unique building are displays of fossils of dinosaurs and ammonites, and the 4.6 billion year history of the earth is explained from the viewpoints of "earth", "life", "Kanagawa" and "symbiosis"."--Kanagawa Now

3 mins. walk from Iriuda sta. on the Hakone Tozan line

Tel 0465-21-1515