Rose of Kyu Furukawa Teien / Night view

Every Spring and Autumn's rose seasons, Kyu Furukawa Teien open a "Rose Festival".  Several years ago, I visited there to see "Autumn Rose Festival" and posted an article on this blog. (2006 Autumn Rose Festival http://leepapa05.blogspot.jp/2006_10_01_archive.html)

They have held "2014 Spring Rose Festival" right now, and I found that they opened the garden till night during this event. So, I visited there after work last Friday evening.

I already have written the history and overview of this garden on the previous post (2006 Autumn Rose Festival http://leepapa05.blogspot.jp/2006_10_01_archive.html), so I won't rewrite them here. Let me just introduce you the photos which I took. 

I couldn't get into the mansion, but all of the room lights were on, 

And also the roses surrounded the mansion were lighted-up.

Below the mansion, there was a western style rose garden.

Illuminated roses are also beautiful, are they?

There were many people coming here, but thanks of darkness, I didn't feel so crowded, could just enjoy the night view.

Below the rose garden, you can find the Japanese style garden. They also illuminated there. 

  Illuminated green leaves and calm atmosphere made me feel relaxed.

"2014 Spring Rose Festival" will be held until June 9th, but the nighttime open would be till this evening (May 25th). Sorry, I couldn't introduce this information earlier. If you have any interest, please try on next chance. It might be held in October.

Kyu Furukawa Teien HP(English / Japanese)
You can go there from Nishigahara sta. of the Tokyo Metro Nanboku-line, or Komagome sta. of the JR Yamanote-line.

Please click to see the map of Kyu Furukawa Teien (Goodle Map)

La maison du chat noir / Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ward

To tell the truth, I hadn't known the presence of this unique building until my friend ブライアン(Bryan) who lives in the US told me. He said he run across this cat accidentally during his Sanpo when he lived in Tokyo.

This building is located in near the Konnyaku-Enma. It's a neat and quiet residential area. (Regarding the Konnyak-Enma, please visit my previous posting)

Recently I found that the owner of this building is a famous journalist, nonfiction writer, Takashi Tachibana. I like his article because he is very good at introducing a cutting-edge of science or political things with his plain wording.
I heard that he used this building as a library. As I learned this information, I feel the face of this cat seems to look intelligent, , , don't you think so?

Nikolai-do (Holly Resurrection Cathedral) in the daylight / Ochanomizu, Chiyoda ward

Saturday morning of Ochanomizu Surugadai area was very quiet. Lee and I were walking along the alley between the college buildings. It was 7:30 AM and few people there.

We had walked for around 80 minutes, and he was a bit getting tired.

Here we are!

The contrast of the green copper roof and white wall is beautiful. When the cathedral was built on this hill top, there were no buildings around the church and it became the landmark of this area.

You can find the description regarding the Easter Mass held at this church in Meiji ara, in the famous novel "Sorekara" written by Natsume Soseki.

The board says:

• This cathedral's completion of the construction was Feb. 1891.
• This cathedral was listed as the important culturel asset.
• This is the biggest Byzantine architecture in Japan.
• This cathedral's building designer was prof. Shchurupov of Russia Institute of Technology, and the construction director was Josiah Conder.

... Several years ago, I have posted some photos of architectures built by Josiah Conder. Please check them later (Furukawa park), (Mitsui club).

As I wrote in the last posting, there was a Russian language institute in the church yard. It was the pioneer in Russian language education in Japan and boasted over 100 years history, however, they ended the history 10 years ago. I heard that the building used for the language institute still remains even now.... sorry I'm not sure which building was that.

Let's get back home before getting hot!

The closest station of this cathedral is Ochanomizu (JR Chuo-line / Tokyo Metro Marunouchi-line) or Shin-Ochanomizu (Tokyo Metro Chiyoda-line).

Nikolai-do (Holy Resurrection Cathedral) night view / Ochano-mizu, Chiyoda ward

Nikolai-do is an old Russian Orthodox Church, established in 1891.

When my father was in his late twenties, in the late 1950s, he belonged to a chemical laboratory located in Ochanomizu area as a researcher of the high-polymer chemistry. He said that Russia (the Soviet Union) was a pioneer in the heavy chemical industry at that time, so he needed to study Russian to catch the cutting-edge technical information. Then after leaving work, he went to the Russian language class opened in this church.

As I took these photos, I imagined the scene a young guy who looked like me came out from the gate and walk away.

Anyway, it is a bit regrettable that I couldn't hear any Russian he spoke.

I'd like to take this church's photos in the daylight again.

Sakura @Mitsui Club / Mita, Minato ward

Since the end of March, it has been a very busy days and I couldn't have chances to go around ohanami area and to take sakura(cherry blossom) photos.
On the second Sunday in April, I barely took photos of the last sakura of this season.

Sakura blossom season is very short. but after the sakura petals fall off, there are fresh and bright green leaves. these leaves shine brightly with the spring sunlight. I love this scene. it's beautiful. I can feel the vital energy of nature.
Will you laugh at me, if I say I feel it is very symbolic that this event come off at the Easter season?

Let me talk about the place where these pics were taken.
The Mitsui Club at Mita. That was the building next to the Australian Embasy.
The building was built in 1913 as a guest house of the Mitsui conglomerates. The architect was Josiah Conder, father of Japanese modern architecture. Last autumn I posted Condor's other piece of arcitecture, the Furukawa residense. Unlike the Furukawa residense, which is British classical-style architecture, the Mitsui Club has a Renaissanse design.

The Mitsui Club has a beautiful garden.

Yamabuki(Kerria Japonica) flowers were in full bloom. A color named yamabuki-iro(yamabuki-color) has been used as the color of gold or gold currency. Nowadays I can barely find this expression in poems or histrical dramas. Can you imagine this color as gold currency?

Sakura petals were falling on yamabuki leaves.

Tsunamachi Mitsui Club
Closest station: Azabu Ju-ban (Nanboku line of Tokyo Metro)

There is a fancy restaurant. Don't forget your jacket and to make a reservation!