Explore everyday life in Japan
I have found that, regardless of the field, Japan has a way of learning the crafts and techniques of other countries to near perfection, then altering those crafts and techniques ever so slightly so that the end result better fits what I can only describe as a unique Japanese sensibility. The result of these alterations tends to be something that is deeply familiar and yet new at the same time. Horticulture in Japan is no exception.
On a day when the rain from the latest typhoon paused only for a few brief moments, I found myself playing with my children at the indoor playground of a local cultural center. As barefoot children ran all around me, I kept one eye on my daughter while she climbed up a large wooden jungle gym, and another eye on the grey skies and garden beyond the glass walls of the atrium we were playing in.
I was thinking about a suggestion that @mindhunter had made to me, to photograph some Japanese gardens. While the weather and the lighting certainly weren't optimal, and though I wasn't near a traditional Japanese garden, I found myself very distracted by the opportunity to partially act upon this suggestion.
As soon as the rain paused, I asked my wife to keep an eye on our daughter and ran outside past a small pond full of goldfish, past a stage that happened to have Soh dancers performing on it, down a covered walkway lined with food vendors selling grilled meat, takoyaki, sausages, and rice bowls topped with sushi, and into this garden.
Whether it be fashion, activities, food, or flowers, Japan is very mindful of the seasons. The floral arrangements of this garden are changed throughout the year. In May, you will find rows of tulips lining the central walkway and spreading out in colorful beds that wrap around the garden's perimeter. In June, you will find displays of roses dotting the garden's newly opened spaces. Having now turned the corner into autumn, you will find small fields of asters, dahlia, hydrangea, and zinnia intermingling into a colorful carpet. Though it is small, I always find the flower arrangements in this garden to be quite beautiful.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting daily updates about life in Japan, please consider following me. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.