Trees of Tokyo Part 3: The Other Side

Just before my Mac crashed a few weeks ago, I had uploaded to my server several interesting tree pictures from my trip to Japan. So, to keep the blog going while I catch up on the photo sessions I’ve had since then, here are some more pictures of the beautiful trees.

Above, Japan is famous for beautiful gardens. I remember going into Arisagawa park in Tokyo at around 1 p.m. and thinking, “I should call my mom.”

But WAIT. It’s midnight, her time! I remember sitting down on a bench, closing my eyes, and letting the fact sink in that I was on the opposite side of the earth for the first time in my life. Back home, everybody was sleeping, the sky was its darkest, the cat would certainly be snoring, the dishwasher in my house would be running. And yet, here I was, sitting on the other side of the world in a park in broad daylight surrounded by signs I can’t read. The reality of that is really quite daunting, and amazing.

As I’ve mentioned in some of my other Tokyo tree posts, the fact that so many trees were labeled was purely fascinating to me, a self-confessed tree nerd. Sometimes the plaques looked just a bit worn, but in this case, I knew basically what kind of tree that was. I fully appreciated having learned so many tree names in the universally accepted Latin.

Japanese maple. They’re not always red.

Many times, I took pictures of the plaques just so I could look up the name when I got home.

I confess I haven’t spent much time looking up trees. I’m really hoping I get to go back to Japan during a fall season.

I love that twisty tree on the other side of the pond.

The layers of green are really beautiful.

Subtle colors and new growth was so pretty. I wonder what that tree looks like right now. Any of my Tokyo friends who check the blog want to update me on fall color? What’s it doing over there right now? I’ll have to post some daily pictures of our trees in Jersey so you can see how our fall is coming along here. This much I’ll tell you: it’s getting chilly.

I’ve posted this one before, but it’s one of my favorite Japan pictures because this was the first Japanese red maple I saw in Japan. I was so excited!

I also found it interesting that so many people living in homes in the crowded streets of Tokyo found ways to add greenery to their view.