Ilex Pedunculosa (Longstalk Holly) 戦（ソヨゴ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is ilex pedunculosa or more commonly longstalk holly. The flower is about 1 cm in diameter, so tiny and cawaii!! 

Ilex pedunculosa 戦の花（読み方分かりますか）

Longstalk holly ソヨゴ

The flowers are 1 cm in diameter 花は直径1センチくらい

Longstalk holly tree (can you see the flowers?) ソヨゴの木（花見えますか？）

Japan has declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and other prefectures, so recently I've always chosen areas for walking with few people. Last week I chose the east of the Imperial Palace. I first went there and headed east where I found some kind of park with almost no people but many trees and plants including longstalk holly trees!

The area, i.e., Jimbocho, is known for secondhand bookstores, but many of them were temporarily closed because of the declaration and some put notices that said they'd closed business forever..... The secondhand book market in Japan had already been struggling even before COVID-19, which has led the market to further shrinkage. I also usually buy e-books, but no printed books. Such a behavioral change of bookworms, like me, has transformed Jimbocho from an area with a lot of secondhand bookstores to an area with many curry/ramen shops. I saw people queuing for curry and ramen outside several shops. Like or not, things change. Jimbocho is just one such example.      

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神保町の公園で発見した戦（ソヨゴ）です。読めませんでした😅 勉強になりました。

緊急事態宣言下なので人のいない場所を歩いてたどりついたのが神保町。でも古本屋はほとんど閉まっていて、中には閉店したお店もありました。古本マーケットはコロナ前から苦戦していましたが、コロナで拍車がかかったのかもしれません。かくいう私も最近電子書籍しか買いません。

その代わりといっては何ですが、カレー屋さんとラーメン屋さんが増えています。お店の前に長い列もできていました。町も変わるんですね。神保町もその一例かもしれません。

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