7 years ago today…

Ikegami plum blossoms
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Ikegami plum blossoms
This crazy-looking, 300-year old plum tree wasn’t in full bloom when we visited it two years ago today. Other trees were more loaded with plum blossoms on this day so if you are in or near Tokyo during the next week Keio Mogusaen is a great place to visit.
If plum blossoms aren’t your thing, you can still enjoy the bamboo. I’ll show you a photo of the bamboo at Keio Mogusaen tomorrow.
When you get bored of taking photos of flower blossoms in Japan you can always turn your camera on the dozens of (mostly) old, Japanese men targeting the flowers with their giant DSLRs.
One of the best places to see plum blossoms this time of year in (or near) Tokyo is Ikegami Baien. The flowers probably won’t hit their peak for another few weeks, but the viewing should be good for the next six or seven weeks.
Boke or bokeh is a relatively new term (since the 90s) in the English language. It comes from the Japanese word 暈ける which means “to be blurred” or “to be out of focus”. Boke refers to the blurry portion of images which add a nice backdrop to the subject matter.
By the way, the plum blossoms will begin soon in Japan. I took this photo in early March, but some will be visible in January.
It won’t be long now before the plum blossoms begin to hit Japan (January and February for the most part). Today’s photo is from Horinji, a Buddhist temple near Waseda University in the center of Tokyo.