The tulips of Hamura

One of the joys of living in Japan is the nation’s collective love of flowers. I’ve written here about Tokyo-ites near worship of cherry blossoms in the early spring as well as the lush beds of tulips, poppies and cosmos that sweep through Showa Kinen Park throughout the spring and summer. In nearby Hamura, they plant 400,000 tulips of 60 varieties in a single field for a spectacular display for several weeks every April. We missed it the first two years we lived in Japan. I’m happy to report that this April we managed to see the field in all its glory on the last official day of the festival. (The 2017 Hamura Tulip festival begins April 5.)

As festivals go, it’s fairly basic for Japan. There’s a few food booths – we started our exploring with blue soda flavored ice cones – but the main attraction is simply walking through rows and rows (and rows and rows) of tulips.

In my case, the walking included a lot of stopping and pointing my camera. I had fun with filters.

There was an observation deck which provided views of the entire field:

The view from on high:

Children’s Day is a holiday on May 5 in Japan. It’s a national holiday that honors kids and is observed, in part, by flying these koinobori flags shaped like carps which represent individual family members.

We used our visit as an opportunity to take portraits of our own little family.

I liked the way this irrigation pond reflected the clouds:

Every festival, at least in Japan, needs a kawaii mascot. This cutie represents the festival, which starts a few weeks earlier before the tulips with the blooming of sakura trees along the adjacent Tama River.