Hatchoko Park

Over rated park around a man made lake

Hatchoko Park is a park around a man made lake in Yoshimi. It is the pride of the town and the locals love it, but I found it to be severely lacking! I guess why the locals love it is because it is a nice place for a walk and because it does look beautiful during both cherry blossom and autumn leaf seasons. The park has dozens of wild cats. It would seem that most of them were abandoned; given the number of placards around the park with appeals for people not to leave unwanted cats there. They even have signs up warning of the hefty fines incurred if you are caught in the act of abandoning a cat. The park has free parking. There is vending machines and a toilet near the car park. There used to be a shop in the park, but it closed down a long time ago. The walking course is about a kilometer. You can take side trails off too and one route leads to some historic burial grounds.