Furouen 2

This is the second part of my post about Furouen. Since the first time I came there the plum blossom haven't full bloomed yet, I came to Furouen again this morning. Since it is almost the end of February, more of the plum blossom have bloomed. It is so beautiful now compare to the past week. There are a lot of pink, red, yellow, and white flowers which have fully bloomed today. It has a more Spring atmosphere compare to last time. If you are planning to come here, this is the best time to go. 

This is the picture I took 2 weeks ago

This is the picture I took this morning 

Tomorrow, there will be a plum festival or Ume matsuri here in Furouen. The festival is to welcome spring. As I said in my previous post, plum blossom is the sign of the start of spring in Japan.

Today I also learn a lot about Ume bonsai. For you who don't know what bonsai is, bonsai is a Japanese art from using trees grown in containers. Bonsai is like mini tree in a pot. The staff here said that plum blossom is part of the rose family. It has small thorn in it's twig and it could be plant by using stem system plantation. You can buy ume bonsai here for 900 yen to 30.000 yen.

I also got the chance to taste a plum tea or umekobucha. I'm surprised that the color of the tea is actually pink. But the taste of the tea is really delicious. Though it tasted more like a soup than a tea. It has a sour smell, but it doesn't taste sour at all. It also has some sprinkles of gold powder. 

Another interesting thing that I found today is a caged raccoon or tanuki statue. The staff said it is to prevent the raccoon to do destruction in the park. I think it is an interesting Japanese culture and superstitious. 

I really learn a lot on my second trip here. If you go to Furouen, I hope you also have a really good time here as I am. 

For more information visit their home page on http://www.furouen.jp

Furouen (Garden Park of Eternal Life)

Hello!!! It is almost spring in Japan now, and that means it's near the time for flower viewing or "Hanami". So, this time I'm going to introduce you to a great place for flower viewing here, in Yamanashi. 

This time I am going to introduce you about a plum blossom park. This park called Furouen. Furouen is located in Yamanashi prefecture, Kofu city, Sakaori 4-3. You can get there by walking for about 10 minutes from Sakaori station. 

Furouen has more than 3000 plum trees with 20 different varieties of plum trees in a 50 km² area. The park is more like a hiking place so it has some hills and slope. Here you can enjoy some colorful plum blossoms while hiking. When you get to the highest place in the park, you can see amazing views of Mount Fuji and the Southern Alps. This is a really good place to take plum flowers with Mount Fuji.  Furouen has food concessions and gift shops inside the park so that you can enjoy your picnic there. 

And for you who loves taking pictures, there is a photo contest of the park in Furouen. The winning pictures will be put in on display inside the park. I think this place has a really nice photo shoot spot because it not only a plum blossom park it also has some traditional Japanese building such as the house of the park owner, Mr. Okumura since 1897, though now they do not live there anymore. 

These are some interesting facts about plum blossom. Plum blossom is one of the most popular trees for flower viewing in Japan besides cherry blossom. Plumtree blooms faster than cherry blossom. While cherry blossom blooms around April to May, Plum blooms around February to March. Hence Plum blossom is the sign of the end of winter and the beginning of spring in Japan. There is also some plum festival around the time when the plum trees starting to bloom in Japan. So, if you want to experience Japan's spring 

The park is open from February 1 until March 31. It is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 7 days a week. The entrance fee is ￥500 for adults and ￥200 for children under 12 years old. But recently the park is also open in autumn when the color of the leaves are changing or "Kōyō". 

For more information about the park visit their homepage at http://www.furouen.jp