Hibiya Park

I read about a Chrysanthemum Festival being held in Hibiya Park, so we decided to check it out.  Overall, it's pretty much a bust, but it has a few interesting bits.  First, who knew chrysanthemums grew to be over 6 feet tall? (I didn't.)  Unfortunately, we can't read the Japanese, so we don't know if these are prize winning flowers or not.  The flowers themselves are huge - over a foot across.

 

Apparently, there are even chrysanthemum bonsai trees.  Did you know that?  Me, neither. 

  

Here's a close up of some "typical" size flowers.  Very pretty colors!

We stroll around the park itself, too.   There are restaurants, tennis courts, open air concert halls, playing fields, and of course, gardens.  The gardens here are always so gorgeous - I think it's difficult to to take a bad photo.

 

 

One cool feature is a giant tree that is over 400 years old.  In 1899 it was in the way of some roadwork so they spent a month successfully moving it to the park.  That's part of what makes Tokyo so gorgeous - all the mature trees and plants.

Then there's always something special that makes you say "only in Japan."  Yes, the dogs are wearing full kimonos.  Yes, they are being professionally photographed.  Yes, their owner is making cute faces and kissing noises to make the dogs focus.  And yes, there's another set of dogs in full kimonos waiting to have their pictures taken, too.

Our dogs would disown us if we tried to put them in kimonos!