Discovering Japan: April 2007

Monday 30 April 2007

Spring is here!

Purple Tulips

Sera Highlands Flower Plantation, Sera Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan - 29th April 2007
世羅高原農園、広島県世羅町

Today Naomi and I decided to go for a drive 50km south from Tojo where I now live to a place called Sera which is well known for it's beautiful flower plantation. At the moment all the tulips are in full blossom and people in their dozens crowded the highlands on this beautiful warm spring day. It is Golden week at the moment in Japan which consists of a few public holidays all within days of eachother making for some people a 9 day break from work. However, when there is a public holiday in Japan it means wherever you choose to go and relax, you will be amongst great crowds! Fortunetely the Sera Highlands Flower Plantation is huge and you can find a nice quiet spot and take some photos or enjoy the wonderful gradients of colour the tulips bring as you can see in the picture below. Depending on the time of the year, this place has different types of flowers so once the tulips wither away, I guess they will be planting the next lot of flowers! The cherry blossoms have all fallen off and the season of fresh green has arrived and lots of trees that lose their leaves in Autumn have begun shooting out with little new green leaves. Keep checking for new photos of Japan in Spring!

Rainbow of Tulips!

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Cherry Blossom season is here!!

庄原市の上野公園

Shobara City, Ueno Park

The brief cherry blossom season has arrived and all over Japan these pale pink flowers can be seen. Parks are filled with people wanting to enjoy a few hours relaxation underneath the blossoms drinking a beer and enjoying a 'bento', japanese lunchbox or for the well prepared, a barbeque! The picture above shows a lake surrounded by the trees with lantons and seats scattered around to sit down and take in the view. I went on a weekday which made viewing easy but the day before Naomi and I went to a place where it is said to be quite beautiful however with it being a Sunday and most people having the day off everyone decided to head off to the same place which caused major traffic jams. After moving slower than a baby taking his first steps and not getting anywhere, we decided to turn around and park where a few cherry blossom trees were and took a breath of fresh air!