Tokyo Cherry Blossoms
Unlike last year my timing for this year’s flower viewing has been terrible. Work has kept me busy and my free days have seen nothing but bitterly cold rain, winds and even snow (in northern Tochigi prefecture)! Not ideal in terms of cherry blossom photography. But one early morning I managed to go out and take these in Tokyo’s Gaien district.
The last photo shows The National Diet Building (国会議事堂 Kokkai-gijidō) in the center of Tokyo. A diet is a deliberative assembly associated mostly with countries having an emperor as opposed to a president or a king. The term comes from the latin dieta which means parliamentary assembly and daily allowance, and through a bit of linguistic mutation it has evolved into the Diet of Japan and the tag in the Reichstag of Germany and the Riksdag of Sweden. Interesting stuff, etymology! The only reason I add this is because many tourists often wonder what a “diet” actually is. As did this blogger when he first arrived in Japan.
Amazing you are having “hanami” at this time! I thought it would be over by now… And there aren’t too many photos of the Diet Building immediately after the war but here’s one before the bombing got bad. Civilians were planting crops wherever they could for food and the war effort as you know. http://jj-junstar.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2010/04/05/photo.jpg
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It is mostly over but all the cold and rain we have had has somehow preserved the trees so there are still quite a few that are still in full bloom! And now we have the green leaves sprouting as well which I think makes them look even better! Thanks for the photo link, I wish they would do that today too! (^-^)
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So that’s why it’s caLLed ‘Diet’.. Thank you for the Lesson and the beautifuL photos ^^
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Thank you for the kind comment! (^-^)
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very nice pictures! 🙂 good work!
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Thank you Amanda! (^-^)/
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I am enjoying a vicarious spring, with these lovely sakura and blue skies.
There were five deer eating the still-dormant buds from the apple trees across the road this morning. We may be a few weeks away from seeing any blooming trees (or tops of trees, depending on the amount of browsing), but the last snow-pile is almost gone!
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Noooooo…! Wait until autumn and you will get apples instead of just buds! I assume E’s dad is not a hunter then? May spring hurry up!
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The apples are wormy and feed the squirrels, woodchucks (marmots) and deer, so the deer are spoiling their own autumn feast! No hunting within the township (too many houses), so no fine apple-fed venison even if we had a hunter in the family.
And, YES! HURRAH! The last snow pile is completely gone!
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Marmots! They make for excellent grilling and low impact hunting. (^-^) Deer fed venison…. sounds great. Congratulations on getting rid of the snow! (^O^)/
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Lovely cherry blossom pics…and memories. I will be going to Vancouver BC where I used to live. Has most cherry trees of all Canadian cities –its climate is milder and warmer. And yes, I do have some blog posts on Vancouver cherry blossoms.
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Thank you Jean! I will have to check them out. I have never really seen much of non-Japanese cherry blossoms. (^-^)
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amazing ^_^
I like it
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Thank you Holmes4689! (^-^)/
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Beautiful! The apple blossoms are beginning to bloom over here. Flowers are so pretty. ^-^
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Apples are my favorites, but cherry blossoms are not far away from my top list! (^-^)
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Reblogged this on 恋の予感 and commented:
Cannot spam this post with hearts enough.
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Thank you Tasha! (^-^)/
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Hey! I love your blog on Tokyo and I actually just came back from my holiday there! My timing for seeing the sakura flowers weren’t good either because by the time I got to Tokyo, the full bloom season had passed already :c I took a few photos though here: http://bakering.wordpress.com/ It’d be really cool if you could check it out! 🙂
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Thank you for the kind words! I checked out your blog – it is great. Glad to hear that you enjoyed Tokyo! You should have contacted me earlier and I would have told you were to go to see the sakura that is still blooming here in Tokyo! (^-^)
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My timing was also bad when I tried taking pictures of the blossoms for the first time. I was out last April 5 for an “amateur photo-shoot.” LOL
Perhaps 30% of all the petals have already fallen down. Too bad. I better take hanami forecasts more seriously next year.
I must say Shinjuku Gyoen and the Chidorigafuchi are my favorite spots. These places feature a great blend between nature and modern life. 🙂
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Yes! They are fantastic spots. This year I had no time to visit though. Maybe next year! (^-^)
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