Picture Gallery

The Jindai Botanical Garden is at the edge of the Musashino plateau just above Jindaiji Temple in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. It extends across 425,433 square meters, and each of its thirty areas features varieties of one kind of plant. Displays of ume, cherries, azalea, dogwood, peonies, roses, wisteria or other can be seen every month. In front of the temple below there is also a wetland annex for aquatic plants, where irises are cultivated. The garden has 100,000 trees and shrubs representing approximately 4,500 varieties, each with an identifying label. The park has a plant protection program to preserve endangered Japanese species and exhibitions and activities related to gardening for the benefit of local citizens. Just outside the rear gate there is an area where some plants are sold.

The site of Jindai Botanical Garden was once part of a medieval fortress said to date from 1537. Later it was a nursery that supplied trees for Tokyo's streets. After the war it was opened to the public as Jindai ryokuchi (green area) and in 1961 it was given its current name as it became the first botanical garden in Tokyo. A large greenhouse was built in 1984 holding the collection of tropical plants. In one section of the greenhouse is the lily pond. Downhill from the garden is Jindaiji Temple, the second oldest one in Tokyo.

Source: flickr.com/photos/y_ogawa/13639110005/in/photostream/

The Kintai Bridge is a historical wooden arch bridge, in the city of Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The bridge was built in 1673, spanning the Nishiki River in a series of five wooden arches. The bridge is located on the foot of Mt.Yokoyama, at the top of which lies Iwakuni Castle.

Kikkou Park, which includes the bridge and castle, is a popular tourist destination in Japan, particularly during the Cherry Blossom festival in the spring and the autumn color change of the Japanese Maples. It was declared a National Treasure in 1922. The bridge is composed of five sequential wooden arch bridges on four stone piers as well as two of wooden piers on the dry riverbed where the bridge begins and ends. Each of the three middle spans is 35.1 meters long, while the two end spans are 34.8 meters for a total length of about 175 meters with a width of 5 meters.