Tokyo's Azalea Spots (Part 1) : Shiofune Kannon-ji

 As it is a bit far from Tokyo city center, it seems that Shiofune Kannon-ji does not get as much visitors.

It is a very nice azalea viewing spot during spring. The best time to go is late April-beginning of May. We went today but it was not full bloom yet. Most likely it will be in one to two weeks.

Shiofune Kannon-ji is a buddhist temple, The temple history dates back to year 645~650 !

The temple is situated in the middle of hills, with 17000 azaleas, You can walk in between the azaleas but be careful of bees, snakes and the likes. A huge statue of Kannon is looking over the azaleas.
Also, the area being a bit mountainous, it may be a bit more chilly than central Tokyo. 

Access: Stop at Kabe station (河辺駅）, it is on the Chuo Line and is about one hour away from Shinjuku station. Once at Kabe station, you can either take a bus (line 77) to go there or go by foot. It takes approximatively 35 minutes to go over there by foot. Some of the roads do not have pavement, so I would not recommend if you have small children.

Fee: The fee to enter the azalea park is 300 yen for adults. However, the booth to pay is place at a very strange place and super easy to miss..