Thursday, March 29, 2007

Tree Worshippers

Excite Japan's hanami season calendar showed yesterday that Rikugien Garden in Komagome was one of Tokyo's first cherry blossom viewing spots to reach full bloom status this year. Apparently everybody and his grandmother -- and grandfather -- checked that same website because Rikugien was packed with hoards of elderly people by the time I got there. And they were all snapping photos of the same monstrous, pink tree.

After I'd had enough seasonal beauty, I took the Yamanote Line back to Shinjuku and then decided to walk the rest of the way home, getting a bunch more nice shots along the way. The peak of the hanami season should happen this weekend, which means this weekend is a prime opportunity for my 3rd Annual Big Walk.

Even though more than 80% of Japanese supposedly follow Shinto and Buddhism, I have photographic evidence that just as many are actually tree worshippers.

Technorati: cherry blossom / sakura

1 comment:

Rick Rottman said...

I would hug any one of those wonderful looking trees.