Cherry blossom season is nearing its end in Tokyo. This week I took a little time to go out and take a few pictures. (Okay, okay...I went a little overboard and it ended up being more like 100 pictures.) I guess I'd better put some of those snapshots to good use by sharing them!
On Thursday, I left my apartment 10 minutes early so I could take a few shots of the cherry trees along the river outside my window. I've tried taking pictures from my window, but there are some power lines in the way; it's much better from the ground anyway, because it's easier to get blue sky in the frame.
On the way home from work that night I had to make a stop near the local shrine, so I once again took out my camera and got a few shots of sakura after dark.
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| The torii (gate) at the entrance to the shrine |
Friday was my day off, and I had made plans to go to a garden recommended to me by one of my students. However, one glance out the window at the overcast skies and the suggestion of rain made me change my mind. I figured I'd save the one-hour trip for a day when I was more likely to have blue skies. I was even more glad that I'd taken the extra time for photos before work the day before, too.
Knowing that the season was nearing its end I still wanted to visit a garden, so I headed for my usual go-to sakura spot: Shinjuku-gyoen.
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| The NTT Docomo Yoyogi building |
I'm convinced that one of the best parts about being a salaryman in Japan is that you can totally take naps in the grass--in your business suit--in the middle of a weekday afternoon (see foreground):
And cherry blossoms weren't the only thing to see there:
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| My favorite shot of the day turned out *not* to be of cherry blossoms |
The rain held off, fortunately, so rather than taking the train back towards home I decided to get a cup of coffee and walk part of the way back. The route I took led me through the grounds of Meiji-jingu, a large Shinto shrine in the center of Tokyo, and the most popular place for New Year prayers at the beginning of the year.
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| Walking through the gaien (outer garden) |
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| Shrine staff |
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| One of the buildings in the shrine complex |
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| Barrels of nihonshu (sake) donated to the shrine for consecration |
What started out looking like a pretty dull day actually ended up being a great day for a walk.
