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....
Frozen Protector
This is another photo from one of the big snows we had around Japan in February. The statue here is called “komainu” – a lion/dog which is believed by some to protect the nearby shrine from evil spirits. I don’t know about that, but I do know it makes for an interesting photographic subject and I’ve often been interested by this particular angle, but until it snowed I had a hard time getting a shot...