Hanegi Park - Feb 17, 2020

This weekend I was excited about the arrival of spring and the goal was to see plum blossoms. The Japanese word for plum is 'ume'. Apparently 'ume' also means tangerine, but they typically mean plum when they say it. Plum trees bloom during early spring, just before the cherry trees. Hanegi Park has >600 plum trees so the odds were in our favor for some to be blooming. As we got near the park the first thing I noticed was the smell. They smell incredible! It's a light, sweet, floral fragrance. The first couple of trees were pretty, but the further we went into the park the better they got.

After a while we took a break from the trees to get lunch from the park concession stand. Next to the stand they had a plum themed booth set up and we were able to taste a variety of different plum candies. They were all quite good.

After lunch we continued to wander through the park. Two stands were selling a variety of colorful flowers and bonsai trees.

We left the park and took the train back to our 'home town'. We typically would have gotten on the bus back to our neighborhood; however, it was still early and a nice day so we decided to walk home by cutting through Showa Park. The plum trees in Showa were blooming as well.

The birds seemed to be enjoying them as much as we were.

I believe our mission for the day was accomplished.