Nature photos

Shinjuku gyoen

Camellias and cherry blossoms at Shinjuku gyoen

Sunset near the imperial gardens

Camellias at Shinjuku gyoen

Cherry blossoms along the moat by the imperial palace

Moat again

A swan chillin in the moat

He was a speedy swan

more moat cherry blossoms

Last Monday I went with some friends to a bunch of different places to get our cherry blossom fix.  It was a gorgeous day and the blossoms were in full bloom everywhere!  Sadly it was a very short season, and the cherry blossoms are gone now.  I'm glad I was able to see so many on such a nice day, though!

Hanami

Kitanomaru park near the palace

Picnic at Kinuta park

Kinuta park

Cherry tree

It's cherry blossom time in Tokyo!  The trees were at full bloom this weekend and I took advantage of it to have a cherry blossom viewing birthday party picnic.  I had the picnic on Sunday but it was actually pretty chilly and windy... then today the weather was perfect!  It got into the 70s with just a light breeze, it was amazing!  So I went around with a couple friends and we went to a couple different parks to check out the cherry blossoms.  We went to Shinjuku Gyoen and then to Kitanomaru park, which is near the Imperial Palace so you can see the moat lined with cherry trees.  We wanted to go into the imperial gardens, but it turns out they're closed on Monday.  Still, it was a such a nice day!

Festival of the Steel Phallus

Went to the Kanamara Matsuri in Kawasaki on Sunday!  As the name suggests, it's a festival devoted to penis.  There was a parade and a shrine featuring all sorts of phallus-related goods.  There were a ton of people there, and I think half of them were foreigners, lol.  We kept running into fellow Aeon teachers, haha.  The train to get there was super crowded and I was initially worried I might miss the stop because I couldn't see the signs, but then I realized that I didn't need to look for the sign because I could just follow the wave of people getting off!  It was a pretty interesting experience.