Wisteria Festival

Last weekend, we went to a 藤祭り (Wisteria Festival) in Tokyo.
藤 (Wisteria) is a type of flower that is purple and blooms around this time of year.

Here are some photos that I took:

We also saw the new Tokyo Sky Duck bus.
Here’s a photo that I took of it:

The Tokyo Sky Duck is a new bus service that just started in Tokyo last March.
It gives passengers a tour of Tokyo both by street…and then by river cruise because it’s both a bus and a boat!

Here is a video of the Tokyo Sky Duck bus getting into the river:

The tallest tower in the world

Two days ago (April 29th) was the Japanese holiday 「昭和の日」 (“Showa Day”). It was a Sunday so the holiday was “observed” yesterday (April 30th).

It was the unofficial start of Golden Week.  Many people, like me, have to go to work today and tomorrow but had a day off yesterday and next Thursday til Sunday (May 3rd – May 6th) will be days off, too.
But some people get a full nine-day Golden Week holiday from April 29th – May 6th. A lot of those people take an overseas trip.

Click here to read my short FAQ about this holiday period…and also how some of the holidays changed names a few times fairly recently.

Anyways, as we had the day off yesterday and the weather was warm, we went to a 藤まつり (Wisteria Flower Festival) not far from the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Here are some of the photos I took:

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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!