Today we decided to head out to see our old stomping grounds and take in the beautiful site of blooming plum trees. We got up and had breakfast at our local Skylark restaurant (Vanessa and I had the "American" breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and salad while Maddie had the Japanese breakfast of steamed white rice, dried seaweed, grilled salmon, pickled cabbage, and miso soup.) Afterwards, we drove to Yokota Air Base in Fussa. It was only about an hour drive. Yokota has changed a lot since we were there and it was fun to see the base where we used to work. After an hour or so around the base we headed out the gate on foot to the Fussa train station. Along the way we took a slight detour and walked by the first apartment we lived in back in '94. It was so small! We took the train West, past Ome to Hinatawada station. That is the location of the Yoshino Baigo annual Plum Tree Festival. It is actually a residential area but many of the homes have plum orchards in their yards. The whole town is a mixture of decorative plum trees and actual fruiting plum trees. Both are beautiful and fragrant. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's tourism web site says there are about 25,000 plum trees of up to 120 varieties in this area! We had a very nice time walking around the streets, climbing a hill to a shrine with a fantastic view and enjoying the festive mood of the crowds of people. After a couple of hours we, along with seemingly thousands of others, took the train back to Fussa. We stopped in a Starbucks to fortify ourselves for the short walk back to the base. After a bit of shopping on base we drove back home. There was more traffic going back home so it took us a couple of hours. Jelly Bean was glad to see us! It was another glorious day in Japan.
This is the view of Mt. Fuji from Yokota Air Base.
Vanessa and Madeleine enjoying some festival treats.
The hills were covered in blooms!
Madeleine only added to the natural beauty.
Vanessa took a close up of one of the blooms. If only you could smell the perfume-like scent!
This was Maddie's favorite tree. It was in someone's yard.
This is an orchard we passed on our way back to the train station.
This is the Tama river we crossed to and from the train station.
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