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posted: March 31st, 2013 |
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This page begins with March 8th and a visit to Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) to view Early Blooming Cherry Trees. Then it proceeds to March 9th and a hike from Hinatawada (near Mitake) to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring (near Musashi-Itsukaichi). This page ends with March 10th and a very dust filled sky which we witnessed as we were riding the Keio Line Train near Chofu City. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin March 8th |
On Friday, March 8th, I had to go into the city for a short meeting with one of the company's which I work for, so Kazuya came into the city a while after that and we met and went to lunch and then we went to Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) to check out the Early Cherry Blossoms and to see the Plum Blossoms. In this row, you'll note that the first thing we found was Plum Blossoms. Then, off in the distance, we could see a large area of white flowers. We wondered what those flowers were, so we headed that way. When we got there we saw that they were Daffodils (Narcissus sp.). Most of them were solid white, as shown in the 2nd photo, but a few of them had yellow centers - like in the 3rd photo. Pretty!
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We continued walking around and we found some Early Cherry Blossoms. In 1st and 2nd position are photos of Cerasus cerasoides var. campanulata (Kan-hi-zakura in Japanese). Then we found another Early Blooming Cherry (3rd shot). This tree was Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura in Japanese).
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All of the photos in this row are the Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura) type of Early Blooming Cherry.
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These 3 photos are also all Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura) Early Blooming Cherry.
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And these 3 photos are also the Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura) Early Blooming Cherry. The center shot also shows Kazuya.
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The first 2 shots in this row were taken as we moved away from the Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura) Early Blooming Cherry. The 3rd shot is another shot of Plum Blossoms.
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Here is a nice shot of some kind of Bamboo Grass in 1st position. In 2nd position is another shot of Plum Blossoms and then this same area of Plum Trees from the other side of the pond.
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The first 2 shots in this row show increasingly zoomed shots of that area of Plum Trees and Plum Blossoms which was shown in the 3rd photo on the row just above. The 3rd shot is the same Plum Branch as shown in center position in the row above, but I was closer to it.
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Much to our surprise, we found one small area where the Viola japonica was in full bloom! The 3rd shot shows another of the Early Blooming Cherry Tree - Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura in Japanese).
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Here is another shot of the Early Blooming Cherry Tree - Cerasus X kanzakura (Kawazu Zakura in Japanese) and the sign on the tree to prove it.
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| End March 8th, Begin March 9th |
On Saturday, March 9th, we took the train out to Hinatawada and hiked over the top of Mt. Mimuro (646 m = 2,119 ft) and then down the other side to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring. We had not been to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring in maybe a year or more, so it was nice to go there. The first 2 shots here, taken shortly after we started hiking, show the Tama River. The 3rd shot was taken as we approached the summit of Mt. Mimuro. WOW - a road! And, a bicyclist bicycling to the top of the road - and then probably going to go down the other side.
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Looks like the Cedar Pollen is going to start blowing around quite soon. We have noticed that we seem to be allergic to something this year, for the first time ever. Our eyes are itchy and we have slight headaches. We were surprised to find some violets along the road as we hiked down. The first violet shot shows a nice Viola grypoceras near the bottom of the photo. The 2nd violet photo shows some Viola japonica - the same kind we found above (Row 9), but these were growing in the wild instead of a park! Much more exciting for us. And, that ends March 9th - not many photos from this date.
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| End March 9th, Begin March 10th |
On Sunday, March 10th, Kazuya and I went to Costco to do some shopping and on the way home on the train we witnessed an amazing sandstorm, "dust storm" or "dirt storm". The local media merely reported it as "haze", but there is no way that I would have considered it to be mere haze. These photos were taken from the windows of the train with my iPhone and they do not show it as bad as it was. In the first photo you can clearly see that the air is filled with something brownish or yellowish, even in just a few hundred meters you can see that it is terrible. In the 2nd photo note that you can barely see the line of hills - and, by the way, those hills are not very far away. In the 3rd photo note that you can barely make out the Ferris Wheel on the top of the hill.
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In this photo looking up the Tama River you can easily see that it is unbelievable. The 2nd photo also shows it to be terrible. Amazing that this was merely called "haze" by the media, eh. By the time we got home our throats were itchy, our eyes were itchy and we were just plain covered with dirt. At one place near our apartment where there is a small farm, there was a 5 centimeter (2 inch) "drift" of dirt from the bare field. Everything in the apartment was covered with dust - thank God that the windows were closed. How many tons of good topsoil were lost in this strong wind? Why don't the Japanese farmers grow some winter crop to keep the fields stable during the windy spring season? This happens every year at the change of seasons (winter to spring) time, but we have never seen it as bad as we did on this date.
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| End March 10th, End Page 2 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation of this month's adventures. |
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