Waning Gibbous Moon and Winter Cherry 冬桜と下弦の月

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

These are the blossoms of winter cherry trees at 6 a.m. today with the Moon in the background. As they're "winter" cherry trees, you can enjoy their blossoms throughout the year except summer, and I see the baby pink blossoms every early morning these days while walking in the area without paying much attention to them. So, if I hadn't seen this chubby waning gibbous Moon in the blue gray sky through the tree twigs (i.e., the blurred white thing in the photos), I would have passed by them as usual.

The academic name of the cherry tree is cerasus subhirtella (miq.). If you live in Japan or have a chance to come to Japan, you can enjoy such pretty cherry blossoms in Ginza Tokyo, too.

Cerasus subhirtella (miq.) blossoms and the waning gibbous Moon 冬桜と下弦の月

Quercus Myrsinifolia (Bamboo-Leaf Oak) 白樫（シラカシ）

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

These're the acorns of quercus myrsinifolia or more commonly known as bamboo-leaf oak. They used to be matcha green and chubbier, looking like tiny spinning tops in early September (last photo), but since then they've grown so much, skinnier and browner, and today I've found most of them dead on the ground. It was just a little over two months, but during that period, I enjoyed a lot seeing them changing in color and size, and still am smiling, looking at the one in the 1st photo which looks like a boy with a bowl cut😊!  

11/24 Acorns of quercus myrsinifolia - the center one looks like a boy with a bowl cut
白樫の実 - 真ん中のドングリ、マッシュルームヘアの男の子に見えません？

11/13 Acorns of bamboo-leaf oak シラカシのドングリ

Hibiscus Hamabo 浜朴（ハマボウ）

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

This is hibiscus hamabo. Its heart-shaped green, yellow, orange, red, and purple leaves are so beautiful!

Hibiscus hamabo is cold and salt tolerant, but despite its hardy nature, it entertains people with the lemon yellow flowers with a dark red center in July and August while in autumn with such colorful autumn leaves.  

Hibiscus hamabo is seen along the coast and rivers across Japan, but the plant has been losing the habitat because of improvements to watercourses. Dozens of prefectures have designated the yellow hibiscus as an endangered species. 

Hibiscus hamabo 浜朴

Hibiscus hamabo ハマボウ

How Ginkgo Leaves Turn Yellow 銀杏の紅葉の仕方

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

Bright yellow ginkgo leaves are everywhere across Japan. People enjoy the yellow leaves and other leaves turning orange, red and purple. But have you ever thought about how leaves change color?

Information about "why" leaves change color in autumn is everywhere on the internet. According to "The Process of Leaf Color Change," in autumn triggered by shorter days and lower temperatures the leaves stop their food making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green colour disappears and the yellow and orange colours become visible. At the same time other chemical changes may occur which form additional colours through the development of red pigments. Some mixtures give rise to reddish and purplish autumn colours such as dogwoods and sumachs, while others give maple its brilliant orange. The autumn foliage of some trees show only yellow colours, whilst others like oaks show only brown. All these colours are the varying amounts of the chlorophyll residue and other pigments in the leaf. 

I knew this because I watched a TV show telling mostly the same thing, but how? Does the color change happen in all parts of the leaves at the same time or from one part to another like these ginkgo leaves changing yellow from the edge to the middle? That's what I'm going to enjoy seeing for the next few days😊!  

Ginkgo 銀杏

The edges of gingko leaves turn bright yellow 先の方から黄色に？

Nandina Domestica Alba (Nandina With Cream Yellow Berries) 白実南天（シロミナンテン）

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

These're the berries of nandina domestica alba. Nandina domestica usually produces bright red berries, but these small cream yellow berries are as pretty as the red ones, though in a different way. 

Interestingly, although these berries are cream yellow, the term "alba" means" white," and this is also true in Japan where the shrub is called shiromi nanten, meaning "white berry nandina." There're many nandina domestica shrubs with red berries, but in my neighborhood, this is the only shrub with cream yellow berries I've found so far.  

 Nandina domestica alba 黄南天

Sacred bamboo with cream yellow berries シロミナンテン

Duranta Erecta (Golden Dewdrop) デュランタ

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These are the fruits and flowers of duranta erecta or more commonly known as golden dewdrop and pigeon berry. Its blooming season is usually June to September in Japan, but the shrub in my neighborhood still has many flowers side by side with the fruits of golden color. 

I wrote about a dying but still beautiful hydrangea several days ago. I also see many morning glories every morning. Golden dewdrop, hydrangea and morning glory, all summer flowers, are still in bloom, telling us that climate change is happening.       

Fruits of duranta erecta デュランタの実

Flowers of golden dewdrop デュランタの花

Pink Camellia Sasanqua ピンクの山茶花

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Scattered bright pink camellia sasanqua flowers on the ground first caught my eye. Then, a horsefly so absorbed in having breakfast on a flower made me smile. It's the blooming season of camellia sasanqua (not camellia japonica!), but a sasanqua tree with so many flowers on not only the tree but the ground is rare.   

Camellia sasanqua and a horsefly 山茶花とアブ

Dying Hydrangea and Un-Gyo Lion-Dog 枯れ行く紫陽花と吽形の狛犬

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

This is a hydrangea at former Yasuda Garden in Tokyo. It was dying, but the pale purple color of the flower next to one of a pair of komainu or lion-dogs, was still beautiful. 

These lion dogs are called "A-gyo" and "Un-gyo" dogs and often seen at the entrance of shrines or temples in Japan. An "A-gyo (A-shaped)" dog has an open mouth while an "Un-gyo (Un-shaped)" dog's mouth closed. "A-Un" means beginning and end and is also known as part of the sayings, such as "A-Un breathing" or "A-Un relationship," that is, an inherently harmonious relationship or non-verbal communication.

I thought that such non-verbal harmonious relationship existed between me and my husband until I saw him walking away, leaving me who was busy taking photos of the hydrangea and the Un-gyo dog. That's why the post has no picture of A-gyo dog...😂  

A hydrangea dying but still beautiful! 枯れていますが綺麗！ 

Side by side with an "Un-gyo" lion dog 吽形の横

Osmanthus Heterophyllus (Holly Olive) at Former Yasuda Garden 旧安田庭園の柊（ヒイラギ）

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

These are the flowers of osmanthus heterophyllus or more commonly known as holly olive at former Yasuda Garden in Tokyo. I saw holly olive trees with spiny bright green leaves at the garden of the Parliamentary Museum two weeks ago, but they had no flowers. 

The Yasuda Garden is believed to have been built from 1688 to 1703 by Munesuke Honjo, an uncle of the fifth Tokugawa Shogun Tsunayoshi, then bought in 1900 by Zenjiro Yasuda or the founder of the Yasuda zaibatsu, one of the four major business conglomerates of Imperial Japan owned and managed by the Yasuda clan. All the Japanese conglomerates were dissolved at the end of World War II, but they have survived through to the present day nominally or otherwise. The three megabanks in Japan, i.e., MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, have their roots in zaibatsu conglomerates, that is, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo, and Yasuda, respectively.

Osmanthus heterophyllus 柊

Nandina Domestica (Sacred Bamboo) 南天（ナンテン）

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

These are the berries of nandina domestica or more commonly known as nandina or sacred bamboo. Their bright red color and ball shape make the berries look so pretty! 

Sacred bamboo is very popular as a lucky plant in Japan because its Japanese name "Nanten" means "change difficulty." And that's why the plant is seen in many places, including my neighborhood where the shrub in these photos grow. But the area will be redeveloped, so the plants growing there, including not only nandina but spray mums, polyporaceae, and chocolate vine, should be all gone in a year or two.

So, I felt a bit sentimental while taking these photos until a woman stopped to ask me what I was doing. I said I was taking photos of these beautiful nandina berries, then she told me happily, "Yeah, they're pretty but I'm very happy to move out to a new apartment nearby and won't have to take care of them. They're too much!!"

You need to put yourself in their shoes to understand what they're experiencing.....😆

Nandina domestica 南天

Sacred bamboo ナンテン

Liquidambar Styraciflua (American Sweetgum) 紅葉葉楓（モミジバフウ）

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

Their maple-shaped green, yellow, orange, red and deep purple leaves caught my eye. These are liquidambar styraciflua or American sweetgum.

Autumn leaves are usually red, yellow OR orange, but these star-shaped leaves turn yellow, orange, red, AND purple as you can see in these photos.

A week ago, I wrote about the beautiful yellow and green leaves of platanus x acerifolia (London plane), but sweetgum leaves are more gorgeous as they have red and purple ones.  

Sweetgum leaves are like larger maple leaves, but the tree isn't in the Acer (i.e., maple) genus but in the Liquidambar genus. 

11/11 Liquidambar styraciflua 紅葉葉楓

11/5 Green, yellow orange red and purple colors! 緑、黄、橙、赤、紫

Ilex Crenata (Japanese Holly) 犬黄楊（イヌツゲ）

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

These are the berries of ilex crenata or more commonly known as the Japanese holly or box-leaved holly at the garden of the Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo. Red berries can be seen in many places, but not such black ones.

The berries of Japanese holly and those of buxus microphylla (or the Japanese box or littleleaf box) look very similar, but they're different in how leaves are formed. Japanese holly is alternate-leaved as opposed to Japanese box being opposite-leaved. As the leaves in these photos have an alternate arrangement, they're Japanese holly. I needed to go to the museum twice to find out which one the tree was😂.    

11/6 Japanese holly berries 犬黄楊の実

Tokyo Skytree & Yakatabune Boat 東京夜景

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These are the views I saw from the Tsukuda Ohashi Bridge in Tokyo on November 6. I was on my way back home from one of my favorite restaurants in Central Tokyo. The restaurant offers soba, i.e., Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour, and it had been a year since I had last gone there.

On September 30, Tokyo lifted the state of emergency and has seen a decrease in Covid-19 cases since then, and that's why I decided to go to that restaurant for the first time in the last year. The dinner was delicious and the Sumidagawa River (1st photo), Tokyo Skytree and the Chuo Ohashi Bridge (both 2nd photo) were all beautiful but I couldn't help but feel sad because I saw only one yakatabune boat (1st photo). The boat cruise was popular before the pandemic with many boats travelling upward and downward on the river, but the business has been severely hit since January 2020 when Covid-19 clusters were found among cruise passengers.

Japan has very few Covid-19 cases these days. Some say that that's because over 70% of people have been fully vaccinated and/or people wear face masks, or even mention the possibility of "apoptosis (i.e., a form of programmed death)" in coronavirus-infected cells. Vaccination and masks should contribute to decreasing coronavirus patients, but being too optimistic, i.e., believing in the programmed cell death despite still rising infections outside of Japan, is very stupid and dangerous.

A yakatabune boat on Sumidagawa River from Tsukuda Ohashi Bridge
隅田川を行く屋形船（佃大橋から）

Chuo Ohashi Bridge and Tokyo Skytree side by side 中央大橋とスカイツリー

Pink & White Marble Colored Camellia Sasanqua 源平咲きの山茶花

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

This is camellia sasanqua at the Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo. I've seen red/pink and white marble colored Japanese apricot/plum, flowering peach and variegated bush clover, and now camellia sasanqua has been added to my collection of marble colored flowers. 

I once googled why a Japanese apricot tree had marble colored flowers on the same tree and learned that scientifically, there's no white flower Japanese apricot trees, but the red flower trees have white flowers when the trees cannot produce enough anthocyanins to make flowers red. This may be true of this camellia sasanqua.

If you're interested in other marble colored flowers, read the following posts!

• Pink and white marble colored Japanese apricot
• Red and white marble colored flowering peach 
• Pink and white variegated bush clover

Pink and white marble colored camellia sasanqua 源平咲きの山茶花

Platanus × Acerifolia (London Plane) 紅葉葉鈴懸の木（モミジハスズカケノキ）

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

These maple-shaped but much bigger leaves first caught my eye. This is platanus × acerifolia or more commonly known as London plane tree, i.e., a hybrid of oriental plane and American sycamore.

In Japan, autumn has fully kicked in. Tree leaves have turned yellow, orange and red, and Japanese people are very busy because as a Japanese saying goes, "Autumn is the season of reading books, playing sports, doing art and last but not least enjoying eating"! 

In Japan, the London plane tree is called "maple leaf platanus," which describes exactly the leaf shape.

Platanus × acerifolia 紅葉葉鈴懸の木

London plane tree モミジハスズカケノキ

Pyracantha (Firethorn) 常盤山査子（ピラカンサ）

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These are the berries of pyracantha or more commonly known as firethorn near the Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo. The bright red berries and the deep green leaves were so beautiful against the sky blue. 

These days, I see less flowers but more berries, but masses of that many red berries were eye-catching, making me wonder why they're not eaten by birds, and I found why. Firethorn berries are poisonous in October and November but get less so in January and February, which birds know. Nature is amazing!   

Pyracantha 常盤山査子

Pyracantha 常盤山査子

Osmanthus Fragrans 銀木犀（ギンモクセイ）

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

These are the flowers of osmanthus fragrans or more commonly known as sweet osmanthus or sweet olive. I wrote about osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus, whose flowers are pale orange in October, and at that time I didn't expect to find the white ones in the following month also in my neighborhood. 

In Japan, "osmanthus fragrans," whose flowers are white or silver, is called "SILVER osmanthus fragrans" while "osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus," which has orange or golden flowers, called "GOLDEN osmanthus fragrans." I'd seen and smelled the golden ones, but never seen the silver ones. 

So, I was too excited and busy taking pictures of these tiny flowers while smelling them to notice someone approaching me. It was just after sunrise with few people around, so I was about to scream when finding a man in black just two meters away. After staring at me for a second, the man, a security guard, went away... 

Osmanthus fragrans 銀木犀

Osmanthus Heterophyllus (Holly Olive) 柊（ヒイラギ）

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

The bright green spiny leaves caught my eye. These are the leaves of osmanthus heterophyllus or more commonly known as holly olive and false holly at the Parliamentary Museum. At least two pentatomidae or more commonly stink bugs were bathing in the sun on the leaves.

Holly olive is a shrub known in Japan to expel evil spirits. People in some areas, e.g., Kyoto, hang the head of a sardine impaled on a holly olive twig on the front door on the setsubun day, i.e., the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan, generally on around February 3. 

When I went to the museum on October 30, the shrub had no flowers, but the holly olive is in the osmanthus genus, so the flowers are fragrant. I need to go there again to smell them!!   

The Parliamentary Museum is in Central Tokyo, close to the Imperial Palace and the National Diet Building, and among other things free admission. Definitely, one of the must places to drop by if/when you come to Japan. 

Osmanthus heterophyllus leaves are spiny 柊の葉は尖ってる

A stink bug on a holly olive leaf 柊の葉の上のカメムシ