The cherry blossoms are blooming in earnest now! They are frothy and pink and gorgeous and a delight to view. They. Are. Every. Where. In parks. Along roads. Next to apartment buildings. Beside rivers. In front of 7-11s. Japan is in bloom and I am enthralled.
This afternoon, Liam and drove to Showa Kinen Park (The Emperor’s Park in nearby Tachikawa) and gazed at the splendor. Showa Kinen has 1,500 cherry trees, so there were plenty of blooms for us to see. Here are a few of my favorite photos:
The trees are also in bloom on base. One road in particular is lined by large, stately cherry trees, which form a dreamy canopy over drivers. I want to return and take more, but here’s a few pictures I snapped today:
We also went to our first proper cherry blossom festival on Sunday. We went to Komatsugawa Park, on the Arakawa River, in Tokyo. To get there, we took a 55-minute train to Shinjuku followed by another 20-some minutes on the Metro to Higashi Oshima Station. The day darkened while we travelled, so I’m not sure the trip was exactly worth it, but it was fun to see a new part of Tokyo and to get a taste of another neighborhood’s local celebration. The attendees picnicked, drank tea, watched Hawaiian dancers and listened to Hawaiian music, and dined on cotton candy and popcorn. (We feasted on take-out from a nearby 7-11.) On the way back to the train, we stumbled onto a small shrine. A quiet place in a busy city, it too was host to cherry trees.
susan dalzell 
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