People enjoy the rich red fall color of summer cypress, or kochia, plants at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, in this recent photo. Kochias are annual plants native to the arid regions of Eurasia, which change color from green to red and then from red to brown as summer turns to fall. At the park, the red hues of some 40,000 kochia plants -- 7,000 more than last year -- have reached their peak. Visitors will be able to enjoy a gradation of red and brown colors from around Oct. 27.

(Japanese original by Natsuki Nishi, Mito Bureau)