Tokyo in Bloom

I'm staying at my hotel in Tokyo now. The great thing is that it's very central and that the rooms have internet! So, without further ado, a few photos.

This one is from Manmanji temple in Matsudo city. This guy is one of the "Nio" or two kings; in Buddhism, he is commonly a guardian of temples. This particular example is 700 years old or so, and is a national treasure.



The cherry blossoms are in bloom in Tokyo now, so everyone is going crazy. I suppose they are very beautiful; they create an effect of a light-pink cloud floating over your head when there are enough of them. Japanese people like to sit under the blossoms and drink with friends.



While everyone is looking at the cherry blossoms, the azaleas (like these ones) are also in bloom, but strangely, everyone ignores them. I'm not sure why. When I questioned the single-minded obsession with cherry blossoms, my Japanese friend made a remark to the effect that I just don't understand the Japanese mindset. This is a standard response when the person in question doesn't understand the significance of something themselves, and it irritates me a bit. But anyway, the flowers are nice.