A Wandering Botanist

Here is a photo album of pictures from Tokyo in April. Beautiful spring flowers.

The photos are from April 2017 but if you hurry, you could still get there to see what it is like in 2024: 

Classical Japanese design

We traveled the northern part of the main island of Japan, Honshu, in April 2017. These photos are from the second half of the trip. (first part: link)

In Tokyo, the cherries were done flowering but in places in the north they were in full bloom (above). Elsewhere it was early spring.

In April two years ago, I traveled in northern Japan with the Pacific Horticulture Society. Somehow I never described about that wonderful trip. Come with me to Japan...
 

We began in Tokyo of course. Tokyo is a great modern city, but it has hidden gardens that soothe the soul.

I took a garden tour in northern Japan this past June (blog). Not only did it make me see my plants as poorly trimmed (see earlier blog), there were lots of useful ideas.

Gardens vary across the world. Of course. So travel leads to looking at home differently too.

Flowering cherry in Toyko park

In mid-April, I visited northern Japan (tour with Pacific Horticulture link, previous blog).

We started in Tokyo, admiring the centuries-old gardens to be found among the skyscrapers.

If you are going to Japan, you should know to "drain spot."

Japanese manhole covers are works of art.

Remo Camerota cleverly termed noticing and photographing them, "drain spotting."

Cherry blossoms, Tendo City, Japan

Japan is famous for celebrating spring with cherry blossoms. In mid April we flew from Colorado where we don't have a lot of flowering cherries but where the apples and crabapples were in full bloom.

Apple blossoms, northern Colorado

Japan! I loved the contrasts

Medieval fortresses:

historic Himeji Castle

to futuristic buildings

Mikimoto main store, Ginza, Tokyo

Chinese New Year--start of the year on the Asian lunar calendar--in which February 19, 2015 is the first day of the first month of 4713, reminds me of places other than the People's Republic of China where the holidays of the lunar calendar are celebrated.

One is Taiwan.

Taiwan is a subtropical island off the coast of Asia. It has belonged to both China and Japan in the last 300 years and has an indigenous population that is neither Chinese or Japanese, so Taiwan is a very interesting blend of cultures. Currently they are a self-governed democracy. They industrialized early and are prosperous and high-tech.

As an island, Taiwan is surrounded by beaches and beautiful ocean views. The temperatures are mild and the air warm and humid. But down the center is a range of high mountains, so you can retreat up into the mountains for a change in temperature.