Bamboo Forest

When I woke up on Wednesday morning of Golden Week, my tired eyes decided to rebel against my contacts with considerable burning and tearing. So my plans to go to the seaside park were thwarted, as I had to go back to bed to give my eyes a rest. However, I had the last laugh over my uncooperative eyes by visiting Kairaku-en Park, a local city park, later that day instead.

Kairaku-en Park was built in the mid-1800s by Lord Tokugawa, a local feudal lord, for regular people to enjoy. (Parks in those days were intended solely for the enjoyment of the aristocracy.) The park is quite large, having upper and lower portions separated by Senba Lake. As it would have taken quite a while to enjoy the entire park, my friend, C.G., and I visited the upper portion. The park itself was quite beautiful on the day we visited but is at its most beautiful in late-February or early-March when the more than 100 varieties of pink-, white-, and red-flowered plum trees blossom. I found the bamboo forest to be quite fascinating.

My friend, C.G., thought that these immature bamboo trees looked like poo. But to me they look like the tail-end of those creepy, giant, burrowing worms from the movie "Tremors." What do you think?

Until next time...