Cherry blossom under COVID-19 pandemic; March 23-28, 2021

 

The cherry flower was fully open in the 4^th week of March (Mon., March 22-Sun., Mar. 28) in Tokyo. Many people enjoyed the flower.

I am one of them. I had several walks.

 

The photo was taken at Kitazawagawa walking path near Shimokitazawa, Setagaya City. Cherry, as well as other spring flowers were open. (See also the top photo)

 

I found cherry trees along the Kanda River in Suginami City. (See also the 2nd photo)

 

This is Ohzora Park which locates along the Kanda River.

 

I also found peach blossom in the Tamagawa Josui Park in Suginami City.

 

New leaves have started to grow. I enjoyed fresh green in the Tsukayama Park in Suginami.

 

People are requested to refrain from having picnics to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Most people enjoyed flowers as they walked or had seats separately. I found only few groups gathering under the flowers.

 

I wondered how the cherry blossom will be next year.

Tokyo International Airport under the COVID-19 pandemic: March 15, 2021

I visited Tokyo International Airport at Hanede.

More than one year has passed since the declaration of pandemic by the WHO.

More than 120 million cases have been confirmed and over 2.6 million people have been killed by the disease worldwide.

The vaccination started in some countries late last year, but the pandemic continues.

There were few people in the airport’s international terminal. (See also the top, the 2nd and the 3rd photos)

Most parts were empty.

Most planes were cancelled.

Parts of seats were banned to use.

There were operations of few plans in the day, but I saw no people around the departure gate.

There were limited number of planes in the parking lots. (See also the 4th photo)

There were few people in the adjacent railway station.

It may take some time before the situation turning better.

Ume blossom: Feb. 13-14, 2021

We had fine warm days in this week.

I visited Hanegi Park twice to enjoy ume (Japanese apricot) blossom.

 

The park holds ume festival every year at this season.

It was cancelled this year to avoid motivating people to gather in the place under the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Most trees have already opened flowers.

 

The white flowers made good contrast with the blue sky. (See the top photo)

 

The pink flowers were beautiful. (See the 2nd photo)

 

I felt good smell of ume everywhere in the park.

 

There seemed less people than usual year, but many families were enjoying flowers.

 

I found only one picnic party in the park on Feb. 13.

 

The ume blossom in the COVID-19 era was impressive.

Mt. Fuji (without snow) in new-year season: Jan. 10, 2021

It was a fine winter day.

I had a quick visit to Shizuoka Prefecture; I saw good scenes of Mt. Fuji from the trains during my trip.

Mt. Fuji is usually covered with snow at the season. The situation is different this year.

The northern and eastern sides of the mountain were covered with snow. This is a photo of eastern side taken from the Odakyu Line.

The scene was different, however, in the southern side. There were few snow on the mountain surface. The mountain was still brown.

This is a photo taken from Mishima City.

This photo was taken from Fuji City. (See also the top photo)

Mt. Fuji stands behind factories in the city. (Se4e also the 2nd photo)

It may be the first experience for me to see such Mr. Fuji at the new-year season (if my memory is correct).

Some parts of Japan --including northern Japan areas and Sea of Japan-side districts -- are suffering from heavy snow disasters this winter. The circumstances in Mt. Fuji look quite different.

 

 

Mt. Fuji in twilight Jan 3, 2021

There are about 100 km from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji.

We can see the nation’s tallest mountain from many places in Tokyo.

Still, it is becoming difficult to see “good scenes” of Mr. Fuji as we have more tall buildings in the metropolis.

I met across a beautiful scene of Mt. Fuji in twilight during my walk in Setagaya City, western Tokyo.

It was a scene from a spot near Setagayadaita station of the Odakyu Line.

Mt. Fuji stands behind the Odakyu Line. 

I found many people taking photos.

 

 

 

 

 

New Year scenes under COVID-19: Jan 1-3, 2021

  

A Happy New Year !

2021 started as  the COVID-19 pandemic continued.

The scenes of the new year were quite different from the ones seen in the previous year.

Many people refrained from going back to their home towns. Planes as well as long-distance trains had fewer passengers. Many shops in Tokyo ceased operations in the period.

Tokyo’s people seemed to spend their times in and around their homes.

 I had walks in various areas in western Tokyo during the first three days of the new year.

I found hundreds of people making a line in the Setagaya Hachiman Shrine in Setagaya City, western Tokyo. (See also the top and 2nd photos)

There was a sign to ask people to keep distance from other visitors in the side entrance.

People were also making a queue in Gotokuji Temple in Setagaya. (See also the 3rd photo)

Many people seemed to be praying safety in the new year.

I dropped in the Daita Hachiman Shrine (see the 5th photo) the Rokusho Shrine during my walk.

People enjoyed flying kite in Hanegi Park in Setagaya.

Some of Ume (Japanese apricot) trees began to open flowers. (See also the 4th photo)

The weather was good in the new-year days.

 The combination of white and pink flowers and the blue sly was beautiful.

 

Tokyo's Christmas under Covid-19 pandemic: Dec. 23-24, 2020

Japan is now in the 3rd wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 3000 cases are reported every day after mid-December. Nearly 1000 cased are reported in Tokyo.

Restaurants are asked to close a few hours earlier than usual. People are asked not to make unnecessary visits and to refrain from join gatherings.

The scenes of Christmas season are quite different from ones seen in ordinary years.

The Shinjuku Station, the busiest railway terminal in Japan, was not so crowded.

I found various Christmas trees – big and small and; natural and artificial ones – in many commercial facilities in the area. There were few people around such Christmas trees. (See also the 3rd photo)

I also found and entrance of restaurants were decorated with Christmas plants. 

Many shops, including Kyodo’s Daiso, sold Christmas goods. (See also the 2nd photo)

The shops also made decorations with Christmas trees. (Se also the top photo)

The decreases of visitors were smaller in the facilities in residential areas than in the business center areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya.

We will have the new year in about a week. The new year decorations were sold while Christmas decorations are displayed in the shop.