At Kairakuen in Mito City, one of Japan's top three gardens and known as a famous spot for plum blossoms, early-blooming varieties have begun to bloom, delighting visitors.
Kairakuen in Mito City, one of Japan's top three gardens, is home to 3,000 plum trees of approximately 100 varieties.
Among these, the early-blooming varieties are starting to bloom, and on the 23rd, a variety called ``Yaekanbei'' was wearing red flowers.
According to Ibaraki Prefecture, which manages the garden, the flowers started blooming in early this month, which is the same as usual.
Visitors enjoyed the scent and took photos under the blue winter sky.
A 66-year-old man from Kanagawa Prefecture said, ``The flowers were fragrant. They've only just started blooming, but I enjoyed looking for trees that were blooming.''
The Mito Plum Festival will be held from the 10th of next month, when many varieties begin to bloom.
As tourists from overseas are expected to visit the park this year, Ibaraki Prefecture is planning to enhance the introduction of the park's facilities in foreign languages and introduce electronic tickets.
Director Naohaku Adachi of the prefectural Kairakuen Park Division said, ``This year there are already many foreign tourists, and we expect the number of people to increase during the festival period, so we have created a new parking lot so that they can enter and enjoy their time smoothly. We are proceeding with preparations such as maintenance."