TONAMI, Toyama Prefecture—Rather than the muggy haze of a greenhouse, stepping through the glass door into the Tonami Tulip Gallery’s Pallet Garden here means visitors are enveloped in a shock of cold as they enter a world of infinite color.

Maintaining the space at 15 degrees extends the peak of the 100 varieties of tulips displayed annually, with 5,000 always in bloom.

Amplifying the spectacle are 12 mirrors mounted on the walls to create the illusion of even more flowers and multiples of those admiring them.

“We’d like visitors to enjoy a kaleidoscopic world,” said Takeaki Shimada, chief of the administration section.

Moving onward to the Tulip Palace section reveals even more blooms as it features a 3.7-meter-tall circular glass display containing 500 cut tulips.

To maintain this volume of flowers and the assertion that Tonami Tulip Gallery is the only place in the world where tulips bloom throughout the year requires three cultivation methods.

They are natural growth through open-field farming; season extension, which involves storing pre-sprouted bulbs in freezers to delay their flowering period; and forcing culture by keeping bulbs in cold storage before they are grown in a warmer environment.

The facility’s operator said it is making various attempts to find the cultivation method best suited for each variety.

Despite its name, the facility does not exclusively deal in tulips; guests can appreciate seasonal flowers in the Wonder Garden, including grape hyacinths in spring and hydrangeas in summer.

BOOMING LOCAL INDUSTRY

With a population of about 46,000, Tonami is known for Okado-style thin “somen” noodles and Shogawa “yuzu” citrus. Its flat plains are dotted with farmhouses surrounded by residential forests.

Tulip cultivation began in 1918 when many farmers started planting tulips in paddies in between rice cropping seasons.

Factors such as snow protecting bulbs in the ground from disease and pests as well as ample sunlight in springtime make it a fitting area for tulip cultivation, and Tonami boasts the largest shipment of tulip bulbs in Japan.

To promote its cultivation history and the charms of its flowers, the city government opened the Tonami Tulip Gallery in 1996.

The facility attracted 58,000 visitors in 2025, and it has grown popular among tourists from Taiwan, the Philippines and elsewhere in recent years.

Also in the gallery facility is a souvenir shop stocked with tulip-themed merchandise such as keychains and postcards while the onsite cafe offers soft-serve ice cream prepared with tulip extract that yields an aftertaste of nectar.

The municipality and other parties jointly host the annual Tonami Tulip Fair for tourists during the Golden Week holiday period from late April to early May at the nearby Tonami Tulip Park.

This year’s 75th installment featured a record 3.5 million tulips of 300 varieties, with the flowers arranged in the shape of a heart on the large flowerbed.