March 31, 2014
Sunny with Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom
Tokyo, Japan
Last weekend, the first warm weekend after a pretty long winter for Tokyo, BFFs Monika and her husband Michael and their friends Izhak and Romi took a 1.5 hour trip out of Tokyo to Kairakuen to see the famous plum blossom grove. Kairakuen is one of the three most important gardens in Japan. It is known as the peoples' garden so unlike many traditional Japanese gardens it is a place to walk on the lawn, have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful landscape. I've been their before with friends Karyn and Peter so was very much looking forward to introducing this beautiful garden to the first timers.
Here are some of the photos from the trip. Thank god we went early as when we were leaving around noon, the place was filling up with half of Tokyo it seems.
The crew
Monika and I
When we got there around 930am, there were quite a few people surprisingly but as the morning progressed, more and more people showed up. We left around 11am before half of Tokyo started arriving.
The garden is gorgeous anytime of the year. Its an easy trip from Ueno station and I highly recommend visiting it at least once if you are living in Tokyo