Category: blossom things!

A bit of illumination, in the cold and dark

So, Monday evening after sunset I decided to go down to the middle of Monzennakacho, down by one of the canal/rivers that run through town, to see what the illuminated cherry trees looked like. It was really cold, about 42 degrees with a steady wind making it feel like the 30s, but I layered up and walked down. For a stretch of one of the rivers, there were lanterns hung in the trees on both sides of the river, and a dock where brave evening tourists could ride an open tour boat along the shore. I took the landlubber route, and just walked the 3 or so blocks that were lit. The trees were still not 100% full, in fact there were quite a few that were still in the bud stage, so there’s still time once it warms up to go see them later this week or maybe the weekend. I also plan to go to the more touristy places over the weekend and early next week, if the blossoms hold up. I may have to head to other places as well, where blooming is taking longer.

At any rate, I saw these Monday evening.

A nice Sunday in the park

So Sunday was a nice day, relatively speaking, as it wasn’t bad temperature-wise, it almost made it to 60 degrees, and the sun was shining. Towards the afternoon, though, the wind picked up and started to have a wind chill, a prelude to an ugly week. But I did manage to see a few cherry trees blooming, and found a neat little thing for kids along the way.

So, the cherry trees I found in Etchujima Park, along the bank of the Sumida river south of my apartment were mostly full.

There was a short section of the trail along the river where they had an area set aside for kids. What was neat about it was that it was a place where kids could learn street and traffic signals, safely and without interfering with actual traffic! The section had painted crosswalks, and working, timed stop lights and walk-don’t walk signals, but smaller than the real thing, and made lower to the ground so little kids could see them. I thought that was a really neat idea, I think it would be good for kids in the US to learn on! It was also helpful that kids were learning how to ride their bikes on the same trail, and they could learn to be responsible drivers, too!

I didn’t get many more pictures, as I met a couple and their son, tourists from California, and talked with them for a while. We talked about what they planned on the trip, and I gave them some (hopefully) helpful things that I’ve learned about being a tourist in Japan. It started to get cold, and I didn’t want to keep them, they weren’t really dressed for it, and I needed to get to the drug store to get some soap and laundry detergent. I did manage to see a few more neat things before it got too cold to hold a camera for long. In hindsight I wish I’d gotten an earlier start.