Kaki Tied Up and Bearing Fruit

Harajuku blends the mad fashion and quirkiness of Yoyogi Park folks with the boutique-shopping-gourmet-eaters of Omotesando, with the twisting backstreets offering a taste of saneness and some quiet.

Literally just around the corner from the lovely little mailbox and prettiest traffic cone ever, was this kaki (persimmon) tree. I like to imagine it's a leftover from a farmhouse that once stood here or someone's kitchen garden from long ago. Regardless of the cramped quarters below a stairwell and next to an air-conditioning unit, some affectionate gardener has tied it back and carefully trimmed it and surely savoring it this month. (It's still green here.)

Blooming Backstreets of Harajuku

Out walking towards evening in the Harajuku area in mid-September we passed a number of lovely gardens on residential streets and even on shopping streets. All worthy of photos, I found this mailbox and traffic cone beautification endearingly cheerful. A recent shower perked up the colors a bit turning them into bright little jewels.

Urban Rice Field Article on greenz

While biking to Jindaiji Botanical Gardens in September we passed this urban rice field. It's only a handful of meters from a very busy intersection with Japan's version of big box stores on every corner. I wrote about it at greenz, but wanted to share the link here, too, as it was the first time I'd ever seen such a tambo (rice field).

I've been growing my own little tambo, as well. Purchased at one of those big box stores mentioned above, it's just about ready for harvest! It's been a pleasure to watch it evolve through the seasons. Hope you enjoy learning about both!

Nihonbashi Park Garden and Helpful Cat

We ultimately choose side streets and byways when on one of our urban hikes. The main streets can be quite interesting, but more often than not it's the small streets that yield the most wonderful surprises. (Like vegetables!) Nihonbashi in September was no different.

After the first great garden followed by the coffee shop green curtain, we found a sweet little park with this flower garden at the entrance. Absolutely full of blooms in a vast array of pots and buzzing with bees and bumbling butterflies, I wandered about in this roughly 2m by 6m space for a good twenty minutes taking photos and savoring every color and texture. It also helped that a very friendly cat came over to act as my guide, too. I was quite grateful.

Nihonbashi Green Curtain

Green curtains seem to be all the rage during the summer months here, and they make perfect sense. Some are perennial, some annual, some edible, and some ornamental, but all serve the same purpose: to provide much-desired shade from the raging heat.

While strolling in Nihonbashi and just after spotting another great sidewalk garden, we gravitated over to this big curtain. All starting from an array of small pots, these vines climbed up, over and around the structure to very effectively shade the doorway and coffee shop interior. If we'd not just had a huge lunch we would have stopped in for a cup of something at one of the cool, sunlight dappled tables inside.

September Sidewalk Near Nihonbashi

I have to confess I've got no great excuse for not posting more here, except the usual busy-ness of life. Farming, gardening, writing, traveling, with a dash of Japanese study thrown in for good measure have kept me occupied these past months. My other blog, Popcorn Homestead, documented some of those adventures in detail, which means this one stood neglected.

Fall's arrival with cooler temperatures and a slower pace at the farm and garden opened a window of opportunity for me to sit down again and sift through any number of photos. Even though I wasn't writing much about them, gardens large and small kept appearing and I kept taking pictures. Resistance is futile.

Strolling the streets in September with one of our visitors, we came across this lovely sidewalk garden. Near the original heart of Tokyo - Nihonbashi - the neighborhood is the usual mix of old and new, but like Yanaka it retains a strong flavor of the old. This garden offered green respite splashed with bits of purple, red, orange and yellow in a bustling commercial part of town. Even though autumn had officially arrived, it was still quite warm that day. We savored our colorful time in the shade.

I'm not sure of the name of the purple flower, but it's vine ascends up the pole behind it nearly as to the top of the second story. I've been seeing them quite alot recently, and it might be a new favorite. An array of pots ran along the side, and recent work must have been underway as the yellow trowel handle illustrates. Or the gardener is like me and just leaves it there for the next workday.

Purple Pot Line Up

Last Spring while out running this garden veritably leaped out at me with color. The tiny space is full of pots of purple flowers that can be seen almost everywhere here. Creating a cloud of color on this corner, it's interspersed with a few tulip bulbs and other scattered blooms. It's one of a line of small garden spaces that are set back just a tiny bit from a busy intersection and two busy roadways. A tall white dogwood is just in its prime nearby, as well.

Mini Blooming Plum Tree

This house is one I pass by on a nearly daily basis as I run errands or head to the station. The back garden is quite stunning and is always worth a peek, but I've also noticed that the plants by the front door change regularly with the season, too. This mini plum tree made me practically jump for joy when I saw it in mid-March. (I'm a bit behind on posting, but felt this one was too lovely to not share.)

Not as showy as cherries the plum (ume) is still a well-loved tree, and its blossoms are as eagerly awaited in Japan as any. Perhaps one of the earlier signs of Spring, it is lovely harbinger of warmer days to come and the tasty umeshu that will be concocted from its fruit. I'm hoping to whip up a batch this year in addition to the ginger wine brewed last Spring.

Garden Tucked Away

It seems everywhere I turn there is a little garden here. I'm almost afraid not to look around for fear I'll miss seeing some little treasure of blooms somewhere. It makes me a slow pedaler and slightly dangerous. Despite a baskets full of composted chicken manure for my garden and kiwis from a local orchard, I managed to spot this little garden tucked behind a wall just off a busy street.

Blooming Corner Container Garden

Spotted on the way to Ivan Ramen this garden absolutely filled the corner. Made of a whole variety of containers - some purchased, some styrofoam coolers put to fresh use - it was a bright spot on an otherwise cement-filled busy street. The purple flowers are quite popular in spring here, and can be found just about everywhere. I've no idea what they're called, but they are lovely.

Ebisu Garden

After a visit to the United Nation's Farmer's Market we decided to walk to Ebisu to Afuri for a recommended bowl of yuzu ramen. This great conglomeration of pots and trees was spotted on a corner of a street running along one of the canals nearby.

Tokyo's Everyday Gardens

Home to some of the most beautiful gardens in the world - including a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Japan has no shortage of spots for the gardening enthusiast to visit. Since our arrival a little less than a year ago I've had the pleasure of visiting many of these and been amazed again and again.

Yet, what I find the most striking and what still makes me pull a camera out time and time again are the everyday gardens tucked in every corner of the city.

White Ginza has its honey project and urban farming concepts shout from rooftops and sprout in office buildings, the single pot on a stoop or a balcony bowing under the weight of so many plants ten stories up touches me most.

Bound up with Japan's long and complex history of gardening and landscaping (and a rich agricultural heritage, too) these little gardens can be as simple as that single pot or a complex compilation of containers of annuals, perennials, vegetables, and herbs scrambling over and around each other.

While usually not large nor even, in some cases, resplendent, these everyday gardens offer little slivers of hope in what can be a gray cityscape. I imagine the hand and heart that tend the pot, savor the herb, and admire the bloom. And I realize that up there on the tenth floor or behind the door of that stoop is a fellow gardener.

Further Exploration

If you can't wander the streets of Tokyo in person, here are a few things to whet your traveling (and gardening!) appetite.

Check out these images of some of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that include gardens. Very inspiring!

More information on the history of gardening and landscaping in Japan can be found here, or for the old-fashioned folks out there, Josiah Conders book - Landscape Gardening in Japan - is a classic.

This Metropolis article, a compilation of earlier posts from Tokyo Green Space, offers a really nice list of literally green spots in Tokyo. Both the blog and the recommended sites in the city are well worth a view.

(This post originally appeared at greenz in a remarkably similar format...)