Blossoms Like Clouds
One of the many things I love about Sakura is how there are so many different ways to look at and enjoy them. This shot comes from the same tree as in this picture from a few days back. That one was taken with a wide angle lens, while this was taken with my 85mm (which on my cropped sensor body is a bit of a zoom). Two completely different views, but both just as...
A Lovely Spring Day In Satte
Got to spend a beautiful Spring day in Satte today with my family. Satte is in Saitama Prefecture, and although it’s only an hour or two outside of Tokyo, it’s not nearly as crowded but (in my opinion) more lovely than anywhere I’ve seen in Tokyo. Especially mixed with the yellow rapeseed blossoms, the large number of Sakura lining the main strip is just a beautiful. It was a lovely day, and I was so...
The Sakura Big One
Cherry Blossom season is upon us here in Japan! It started late last week, while today and tomorrow will likely be the peak days around Tokyo. I was a bit concerned after we had much rain and wind yesterday, but thankfully the blossoms were very early in their progression and managed to hang on. I’ve been running all over the place trying to catch what I can of them while the weather is good. The...
Plum Blossoms at Yushima Tenjin Jinja
Although Japan’s most famous flower is almost certainly the Cherry Blossom, the country also boasts another beautiful floral tree known as Ume [oo-meh], better known in English as the plum blossom. Like most flowers these come in a variety of colors, though primarily visitors will run across two specific colors: pink and white. While these lovely trees are not as numerous as the Cherry Blossoms, there are many great places around Tokyo to enjoy them....
A Day at Hitachi Seaside Park
One of the things I love most about Japan is the number of places that seem like they could have come straight out of a fantasy land in a book. One such place is the Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki Prefecture. Certainly, Ibaraki isn’t the most popular of prefectures in Japan, but perhaps some of the best hidden travel gems are in places just like that. Of course, as you can see in some of...