Plants and Flowers in Central Tokyo & Japanese Culture by Kei Narujima　東京の草花＆つぶやき - なるじまけい

Hi! I'm Kei Narujima. This is a blog about flowers, plants, and bugs I saw in CENTRAL Tokyo, and sometimes art and Japanese culture that bring you a smile or make you think (or so I hope)!! こんにちは。花や虫、そして時々日本の文化などについて書いてます😊。税務英語については https://zeimueigo.blogspot.com/ をご覧ください。

Slug, Caterpillar, Beetle, and Snail & Anpanman and Einstein　小さな生き物たちとアインシュタイン

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It's not rainy season yet in Tokyo, but I often see slugs and snails these days and today two slugs in Half Lord of the Fishes pose (1st and 2nd photos)!!

The other photos are of caterpillars, beetles, and snails at Mukojima Hyakkaen Garden. Looking at these small things reminded me of a very famous Japanese song titled "Tenohira wo taiyo ni (Holding up your hand to the sunlight)" because the song is about every living thing, i.e., mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.

The lyrics were written by Takashi Yanase, best known as the creator of the anime series "Anpanman." I didn't see why "Anpanman" was so popular among children and the song "Holding up...." was still sung by many people, but knowing his background as a veteran of WW2 and his experience in overcoming a series of diseases, I see why he could create such great manga and lyrics.

Those with experience of war including Yanase and my grandfathers and grandmothers, are mostly dead while those with no such experience trying to amend Japanese constitution to be able to use military force for purposes other than self-defense, but Japanese need to do something before amending the constitution, i.e., improving IT and English literacy. Albert Einstein said, "A clever person solves a problem while a wise person avoids it." I couldn't agree more.

2025/5/28

Solutions Vary - Definition of Happiness　米価格高騰の解決策？！

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Rice prices are soaring in Japan. The average price for 5 kilograms of rice is nearly or even higher than JPY5,000, more than double the price at the same time last year.

Java Waterdropwort (Oenanthe Javanica)　セリ

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This is Java waterdropwort (Oenanthe javanica). The plant is aromatic and edible in its entirety including the roots. One of my favorite recipes is ohitashi, i.e., boiling and seasoning them with bonito dashi stock and soy sauce.

2024/6/24

Pink Hydrangea　ピンクの紫陽花

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Two types of pink hydrangea blooms.

2025/5/20

2021/5/29

GREEN Fish Mint (Houttuynia Cordata Var. Plenus)　緑の八重咲きドクダミ

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I saw double-flowered fish mint (Houttuynia cordata var. Plenus) for the first time last year and a green one for the first time yesterday! Can you believe that? Fish mints can be double-flowered and also GREEN. Single flowered fish mints are everywhere at this time of year, but not double-flowered ones. I've found only two places where double-flowered ones are growing and only one green fish mint in my neighborhood.

2025/5/23

2025/5/18

Rescue Grass (Bromus catharticus)　イヌムギ（犬麦）

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I've been writing about plants in Tokyo for several years, so I rarely find a new plant these days. Therefore, finding something tiny hanging from spikelets made me say WOW. They're flowers of rescue grass (Bromus catharticus). Rescue grass is native to America and came to Japan at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868 - 1912).

The plant is called "inu mugi," which translates to "dog wheat," because the plant resembles wheat but is not edible, i.e., useless. In Japan, the term "inu (dog)" is often used derogatorily, i.e., for something which resembles a useful thing but is different or inferior to it or something useless, like the following:

Inu jini, translating to a dog death, meaning a useless death
Inu houzuki, translating to dog ground cherry, meaning black nightshade, whose flowers resemble ground cherry but which is useless
Inu, translating to an informant, a snitch, a rat

I did research on why but couldn't find any good explanation.

2025/5/16

2025/5/15

Red Roses Out Of Place　場違いな赤いバラ

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I'm not interested in roses very much. They're beautiful but too gorgeous to take up for this blog. But this rose tree, which is now in full bloom, caught my eye. Just by itself, in front of an old building, it seemed a bit out of place to me. I also wonder who has planted and taken care of it.

2025/5/16

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis Formosana)　タイワンホトトギス（台湾杜鵑草）

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Hang in there, buddy! The snail was like in the second and third photos yesterday and in the first photo this morning. The flower it was holding onto is a toad lily (Tricyrtis formosana). The plant is said to flower from August to September but I've come to believe toad lilies flower throughout the year because I saw them today (i.e., in May) but in December last year and in September the year before.

The plant is named after spots on a toad's skin and its preference of shady, moist places like toads. In Japan, however, the toad lily is called "hototogisu," which translates into "lesser cuckoo," also after its spots, which, to Japanese people, look like the chest plumage of the bird. Perception varies.

2025/5/16

2025/5/15 From above

2025/5/15 From side

Mushrooms　キノコ

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It was amazing to find not one or two but five types of mushrooms just in a day. These mushrooms hadn't existed a few days earlier, so it means that they've just popped up for the past couple of days, during which it had rained. They resemble edible mushrooms, such as shiitake (1st and 2nd photos) and shimeji (last two photos) and that's why the ministry of agriculture, forestry, and fishery has a website on poisonous mushrooms in Japan (in Japanese only).

Spiderwort　ムラサキツユクサ（紫露草）

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They're spiderworts (Tradescantia). The beautiful color contrast between the petals and stamens caught my eye, which is understandable. Purple and yellow are complementary colors, creating the strongest contrast.

Spiderworts are native to North America, one of many plants coming to Japan from western countries at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868 to 1912). The purple of these spiderworts seems paler than last year but they may change color during the flowering period from May to October.

2025/5/12

Citrus Natsudaidai　夏みかん

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There're citrus natsunatsudaidai trees in my neighborhood. Some still have fruits (although I've never found fallen ones on the ground) while others have no fruits but flowers in full bloom instead. Citrus natsudaidai is called in Japanese "natsu mikan," which translates into "summer orange," because the fruits ripe in autumn but stay on the tree and are usually eaten in summer the following year. This tree has no fruits but flowers and bees, one of which was hovering over the flowers for enough time to take these photos.

2025/5/10

Japanese Water Iris (Iris Ensata)　ハナショウブ（花菖蒲）

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This is a Japanese water iris (Iris ensata). The contrast between deep purple and yellow is so beautiful. The irises grow in wet land and flower in June and therefore its name "hana shoubu" is used as a kigo (i.e., a word or phrase associated with a particular season used in haiku) that represents early June to early July. Japanese water irises produce flowers of more than 500 colors.

A Beautiful Melody　水滴の音符♬

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What do you see? I see a beautiful melody.

Small-Leaf Spiderwort (Tradescantia Fluminensis)　トキワツユクサ（常盤露草）

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The beautiful contrast between the white petals and the deep green leaves caught my eye. They're small-leaf spiderwort (Tradescantia fluminensis). Oops, I forgot to say something. The six yellow anthers also play an important role, making the color contrast more visible.

2025/5/9

2024/5/11

Daylily with Round Petals (Hemerocallis)　ヘメロカリス

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Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are native to East Asia and can be found across Japan. Daylilies are diverse in terms of color and petal shape. The flowers in this post have round petals while some have pointed petals.

Daylilies are "wasure gusa" in Japanese, which translates into "plant to forget things," meaning that you can forget bad things if you carry them. On the other hand, forget-me-nots are "wasurena gusa" in Japanese." The difference (i.e., the "na" part), however, creates a huge difference in flower meanings. Forget-me-nots represents true love whereas daylilies flirtation and forgotten love.

2020/6/2

Japanese Dogwood (Cornus Kousa)　ヤマボウシ（山法師）

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I wasn't able to enjoy flowering dogwood much this year but instead found this Japanese dogwood tree (Cornus kousa), which was so gorgeous, especially from under the tree (3rd photo). I thought at first that the tree was a flowering dogwood because the bracts are not pointed, which is a key difference between flowering and Japanese dogwoods, but I found on the internet that Japanese dogwood trees can have rounded bracts, so I determined that it was a Japanese dogwood tree.

Japanese dogwood is called "yama boushi" in Japanese, which translates to "Buddhist monk" by comparing the head (or capitulum) of the flower to the head of a monk of the Hieizan (Mt. Hiei) Enryakuji temple and the four bracts surrounding the capitulum to his hood.

2025/5/4

Clasping Venus' Looking-Glass (Triodanis Perfoliata)　キキョウソウ（桔梗草）

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This is Triodanis perfoliata or more commonly known as clasping Venus' looking-glass growing on roadsides. There're many of them growing but only this one had flowers this morning.

2025/5/5

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera Sempervirens)　突抜忍冬（ツキヌキニンドウ）

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Their bright red and orange was beautiful against the blue sky. They're coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). Its Japanese name translates into "penetrating honeysuckle" because the stem looks like penetrating a leaf (2nd photo)!

2025/4/29

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