Hikers head to Oze

Hiking season is officially underway at Oze National Park, an expanse of mountains and marshland straddling Gunma, Niigata, Tochigi, and Fukushima prefectures. The mizubasho skunk cabbages widely associated with the area are already in bloom around the Ozenuma Pond. The park is a popular spot for hikers from May, when the last of the ice melts, through early October.