FEATURE

Flower Landscapes Within Reach of Tokyo ― City and Downtown by Day Trip

Anyone who thinks Tokyo has no flowers is simply looking in the wrong place. Night cherries mirrored on a moat, a lotus pond ringed by towers, a weeping cherry at the foot of skyscrapers, a flower field against the downtown Skytree ― within an easy train ride lie the finest scenes of every season. This is a walk through Tokyo's flower landscapes, camera in hand, in the gaps between shifts.

Spring ― cherry blossoms in the city

Tokyo's spring begins with the cherries. Night sakura mirrored on the moat at Chidorigafuchi, the weeping cherry of Rikugien garden in Bunkyo, the Edo-higan of Joenji at the foot of the Nishi-Shinjuku skyscrapers. In February you can catch Kawazu cherries against the Skytree at Oshiage and the Old Nakagawa, while at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa a pale-blue path of nemophila opens for spring.

Summer ― lotus and hydrangea at dawn

Summer rewards the early riser. At Shinobazu Pond in Ueno, pale-pink lotus open at dawn across a pond ringed by high-rises. In Koto bloom the white Annabelle hydrangeas with the Skytree, and on the Arakawa riverbank in Edogawa the Hirai poppies and Skytree stand in silhouette at dusk. Cool scenes of morning and evening that make you forget the city's heat.

Autumn and winter ― flower fields and golden avenues

Autumn is the season of fields and avenues. Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa turns to millions of yellow cosmos, and at the shogunal garden of Hamarikyu cosmos bloom against the towers of Shiodome. In late autumn the avenue before Tokyo Station becomes a road of golden ginkgo before the red-brick facade. In winter, the straw-wrapped peonies of Ueno Toshogu's peony garden and the ice tulips bring a day with flowers even in the cold.

Tokyo has its four seasons too ―
you need only change where you look.

Shooting in Tokyo ― crowds and light

The famous spots draw crowds, so aim for weekdays and early mornings. Lotus and cherry blossoms are loveliest in the soft morning light, when there are fewer people about. A tripod helps for dusk and illuminations, but where it is busy, raise your ISO so you can shoot handheld. Set a tower or skyline behind the flowers and a story only Tokyo can tell appears ― the city and the bloom. For the basics see how to photograph flower landscapes, and for dusk and the magic hour, shooting morning mist and the magic hour.

🗼 Tokyo's four seasons, framed in a single window

From the night sakura of Chidorigafuchi to the golden avenue at Tokyo Station, bring home the story of the city and the bloom as a true silver-halide print on FUJICOLOR's finest professional paper. Framed-ready, shipped worldwide.

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