Another public holiday - this time Foundation Day. It was rather overcast, but we decided to go to Hamarikyu anyway, and at least it stayed dry, though chilly. The garden was alight with stellar plum blossom (the description that came to my mind due to the five single petals of each flower, with stamens like sparks shooting from the centre - oh how poetic!). It helped to lift the gloom of the day no end, and the scent from them was delicious. 
Emily walked a long way, stopping frequently to point up at the many crows and helicopters passing overhead. It seemed very early to see the small field of rape flowers there - I remembered that I was surprised last year to see how the Japanese love what to us is just a crop.
On our way out we passed a performance being held next to the three hundred year old pine tree: there was a man playing the shamizen and another man balancing a teapot with a wooden bar held in his mouth. It was amazing how he controlled it so closely without it falling to the ground.
Walking north we found the shopping district of Ginza heaving. Emily was upset and we tried in vain to find somewhere to stop for coffee and a snack, finally getting a small table in an overcrowded cafe, right beneath a blower pumping out super-heated air. We'd intended to browse a few shops, but didn't feel like joining the crowds getting their dose of retail therapy after all.
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