It’s February, so I’ve been thinking a little bit about hanami and when all the flowers in Japan are going to bloom this year. Last year, I went to a few hanami events, and had a great time. If any of you read my old posts – before the deleting incident – you know how interesting I find the whole flower viewing experience here. It’s not that we don’t have flowers back in the states, but we don’t have elaborate after-work parties or giant picnics/drinking fests in honor of flowers.
So this year, I thought maybe I’d get the process started a little early and try to figure out when the plum blossoms bloom. Last year, I just happened upon them in a park and mistook them for cherry blossoms, but of course quickly figured out that they couldn’t possibly be cherries, which I had been told didn’t bloom until March. So based on that, I think I’m going to find some place to go look at the plum blossoms, maybe make a family picnic of it or something. It’ll be much colder than when the cherry blossoms bloom, but who cares, right? Picnics are fun!
This Winter has been quite mild, so the blossoms are starting to appear earlier than last year. There’s a house near my window that has a plum tree in the back yard. The area is secluded and blocked from the usually gusty winds that blow around my neighborhood, so it seems to be a few degrees warmer than the surrounding area. This little tree has begun to bloom and looks so beautiful. Plum blossoms, or “Ume,” are not as popular as “Sakura,” cherry blossoms, maybe because of the time of year that they bloom, I don’t know, but the fragrance is much nicer, and the parks are generally much emptier, so the whole Ume experience is just really pleasant.
In the Tokyo area, I’d recommend going to Koishikawa Kurakuen, a park that’s only about a 7 minute walk from the Iidabashi station on the Nanboku line. Koishikawa Kurakuen is full of traditional Japanese and Chinese garden settings, and embodies the image I had of Japan before I moved here. The entry fee is 300 yen, but it is one of the better places to view the blossoms.
Ume Matsuri (plum blossom festival) usually begins in mid-February and goes to early March, depending on the weather. (And to the horticulturists who may be reading, I know the photo is of a cherry blossom, I couldn’t find any I took last year of the plum blossoms. Sorry.)
Filed under: Daily life, Entertainment, Family, Travel Tagged: | expat life, Festivals, Flowers, Tokyo
