On Friday (my preparation day.. in theory) I met a few friends for lunch and an has an extremely interesting guided tour of the Eiichi Shibusawa museum, which is located on the edge of the Asukayama park precinct. Shibusawa was one of the powerhouse movers and shakers of the Meiji era. The old buildings there are impressive, particularly the teahouse which is an eclectic mix of Western and Eastern design.
The outing fortuitously co-incided with the Yae Zakura (sakura) season in Asukayama. They Yae Zakura bloom later and last longer than the typical somei yoshino sakura that you see in most places in Tokyo. They were magnificent.
They were so good that I took Hiro back yesterday. We wandered up from Asukayama to Komagome past Nanasha Jinja (shrine). It also has beautiful Yay
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| The wisteria will bloom soon |
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| A laid back day in the park. The regular hanami season has ended in most places. This is a bit like a Tora-san movie that harks back to the Showa era. It's like a 1970s timewarp. (pre-bubble Japan) except that almost every group that was picnicking was drinking wine.... |
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| Shibusawa Museum |
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| The Shibusawa museum building, built as a library, but the documents to go inside were burned down in the Kanto Earthquake, just before being moved to this safe house. |
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| A juggler performing for kids in the park |
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| Shibusawa Museum's teahouse |
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| Varieties of Yae Zakura at Nanasha shrine |
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| Confucius and Mencius |
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| Such beautiful sakura and almost no-one there. |
Nanasha jinja is at Nishigahara 2-11-1 - just next to the Takinogawa police, at little towards Komagome/Tabata from the Shibusawa museum.
