Almost spring

Today we went to 柴又 (Shibamata, Tokyo).
It’s a 下町 (traditional, downtown) area of Tokyo that I like alot. (Click here to see my post in which I explain a little about this area and have more photos.)

We also went to a nearby park and saw the 梅の花 (Plum flowers) and 寒桜 (Winter Cherry Blossoms) were in bloom.

梅の花 (Plum flowers)

寒桜 (Winter Cherry Blossoms)

It’s still cold in Tokyo…but spring’s not too far off now.

What kinds of flowers are in bloom where you live in the world?
What are the signs of winter ending and spring coming in your country?

さ・く・ら・ま・つ・り

Today we went to a nearby 桜祭り (Cherry Blossom Festival) and enjoyed a 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) picnic that my wife and daughters made.

Our lunch was おにぎり (rice balls), 卵焼き (Japanese grilled eggs), broccoli, chicken, 苺 (strawberries), cookies, and beer*!
It was an excellent picnic lunch! ♥

(*Of course, only my wife and I had beer. Our daughters had tea. 😉 )

Here are some photos we took:

Many people were enjoying 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing)

There are many turtles, ducks and carp in the pond.

Drying in the sun

Cherry Blossom tree next to a bus stop

「かき氷」 (Shaved Ice) vendor

新宿御苑

Today my daughters each went out with their friends.
My oldest daughter went to お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo) with her friends,  my second daughter went to the 動物園 (zoo) with her friends, and my youngest went to 東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland) with her friends.

So, my wife and I decided to go to 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) together at 新宿御苑 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden).

新宿御苑 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden) is a very large, beautiful park with both Japanese and Western-style gardens right in the center of metropolitan Tokyo.

We had a nice picnic lunch in the gardens and went home before our daughters were due home and we all had dinner together.

Here are some of the photos we took today:

「東京体育館」 (Tokyo Metropolitan Gym) was used in '54 World Wrestling Championship and '64 Olympics

「新宿御苑の千駄ヶ谷門」 (Sendagaya Gate to Shinjuku-Gyoen)

桜 (Cherry Blossoms)

The skyscrapers of Shinjuku can be seen from the gardens.

ツバキ (Camellia)

There were many people enjoying 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) today.

ボケ (Flowering Quince)

Japanese garden

(Click here if you want to see the official 新宿御苑の花見 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden‘s Cherry Blossom Viewing) page.)

My wife and I also stopped by 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) to see the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) there. It was very crowded there (as expected).

The crowd at Ueno.

六義園

Yesterday we went to the 六義園 (Rikugien Japanese Garden) because the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) are in bloom now.

Before we left home, my wife and daughters made a picnic lunch for us…so we had a 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing picnic) in the garden.

From there, we walked up to the 東京大学 (University Of Tokyo) area before we went home.

Here are some of the photos I took:

桜 (Cherry Blossoms)

Japanese traditional tea house

鯉　(Carp)

Japanese landscape artists

椿 (Camellia)

Flowers

My daughters have final exams at school next week, so they’ve been studying hard these days.

So, my wife decided to go out today together and let them stay home alone to study.

We didn’t go far nor for long. My wife prepared lunch for the four of us (my youngest isn’t home…she’s currently on a ski-trip in 新潟 (Niigata). Click here to read about that.), we ate lunch together…then we left them to study. We were back before dinner.

We went on a bicycle ride to a nearby park and had a beer together and talked for awhile.

There were a number of trees with 寒桜 (Kanzakura)…which is a type of Sakura cherry-blossom that blooms in colder weather (earlier than other cherry-blossoms):

And 梅 (Plum Blossoms):

And here’s pictures of 水仙 (Daffodils) that were there:

一番好きな花は何？ (What’s your favorite flower?)

Mine is 「ハエトリグザ」 (Venus Flytrap). Is that a flower? No?
OK, then, I’d say my favorite is 桜 (Sakura cherry blossoms).

湯島天神

Yesterday we went to 湯島天神 (Yushima-Tenjin Shrine) in 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo).

The 梅の花 (Plum blossoms) were beginning to bloom. (They had posters up advertising their annual 梅の祭 (Plum Festival) that they will hold beginning next week.)

It’s a beautiful shrine…especially when the plum blossoms are in bloom.

At the shrine, my wife and I each bought a cup of 甘酒 (a hot, sweet fermented rice drink. (lit. sweet sake)). It’s often sold at Japanese shrines in the winter.
It was good.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday:

Booth selling "Daruma".

千羽鶴 ("1000 Paper Cranes") for luck.

Plum blossom

From the shrine, we went to a nearby department store (I have a wife and three teenage daughters. Of course, they love to shop!).

The floor selling make-up and women’s clothes also had a display of Valentine’s chocolates (I mentioned in a previous post that women give hand-made chocolate to men on Valentine’s Day in Japan. Click here to read it.)

「ハートチョコ」 (♥-shaped chocolate) and 「ハートせんべい」 (♥-shaped rice crackers)

「ハートせんべい」 ( ♥-shaped rice crackers)

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By the way, those visitors to my site who are in Japan…did you feel that 地震 (earthquake) at about 6:30AM yesterday?

藤

Yesterday we went to see the 藤 (Wisteria) flowers in bloom.

These flowers grow like vines over the bamboo frames that are built specifically for these flowers and they hang down like bunches of grapes.

It looks nice.

Maybe after reading my recent posts about the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) and now about the 藤 (Wisteria), you think that I really love flowers.

I do appreciate flowers…actually nature, in general.

But when I was younger, I didn’t care much at all about that. I’ve never even heard of “Wisteria” or even “Cherry Blossoms” growing up.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older or because I have a wife and three daughters…and girls love flowers (at least, my girls do).

So, now, due to my wife and daughters’ interest, I know the names of more flowers in Japanese than I do in English. For example, I knew that the flowers we went to see today were 藤　(Fuji) in Japanese…but I had to check a dictionary to learn the English name of the flower (which is, as I mentioned above, Wisteria. So I learned a new English word today! (^_^). )

Other flowers that I know that names of in Japanese (some of which I don’t know the English name for):

桜 (Cherry Blossom), 藤 (Wisteria), たんぽぽ (Dandelion), バラ (Rose), チューリップ (Tulip), 菊 (‘Mum), ボタン (I don’t know what this is called in English), 梅 (Plum (blossom)), ひまわり (Sunflower), スミレ (Violet), ツバキ (I don’t know this one’s English name either), ユリ (Lily), ひなぎく (Daisy)…

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head…but you get the idea. Since having three daughters, I could probably get a job in a flower shop now!

Anyways…it’s good for me. I’ve learned to appreciate nature.

And I enjoy going out with my family regardless of where we go. Personally I enjoy going to festivals best…but my wife and children have taught me to stop and smell the flowers too!