Tokyo 2

December 7, 2021 Avril

I feel as if I have landed somewhere new …. I have met more people during these last two weeks than I managed in a year. The first in-person meeting with some but I have also met very many new people. I am hoping that I will manage to build friendships that will help me through any future lockdowns. Everyone continues to wear masks whenever outside their homes, but restaurants and cafes are now fully open

Thankfully Covid cases have plunged here – 7 new cases in Tokyo yesterday, and below 50 for 51 days. However, little testing is done so that figure isn’t a comparison with countries with vigorous testing regimes. There is great concern about the new Omicron variant and people are cancelling trips over the Christmas period fearful that Japan will again close its borders. I am so grateful that we managed to return home this autumn.

Parks in Autumn

I have visited so many gardens and parks, so I’ll share just a few photos

Gingko trees

Koishikawa Korakuen

This botanical garden, the oldest in Japan, was established in 1684 as a medicinal herb garden and is truly delightful.

The pine trees, above right, have been prepared for winter with ropes and bamboo poles erected to save the trees from heavy snow.

This is a good example of Nobedan – a simple Chinese-style pavement of skillfully arranged hewn stones and cobblestones

Drama special

We were in these gardens on November 23rd, the Labour Thanksgiving Day public holiday and happened to be there where this small play took place. A convoluted story about a talented woman who became ill, after visiting the emperor, with the spirit of a demon fox. And then a field crow infected the emperor, followed by some dog shooting (all this via google translate) …. I couldn’t make head nor tail of it either!

A man stood on the stage and took us through this tale in great detail, then a man in appeared and sang the story with another three softly singing the chorus.

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

This was a lovely morning out with Hidemi followed by a great vegan lunch. Vegan food is unusual here.

The first flower is a Sasanqua, the other two are of roses flowering for the second time.

Rikugien Gardens

Well I did tell you that I had visited a number of gardens ….! This one was with a lovely group of women, ‘Tokyo on Foot’, and it was lovely to chat when walking around.