Along with hydrangeas, irises are typically seen during the rainy season in Tokyo. Large colorful blossoms, specifically, the bluish purple-colored "Edo-murasaki" is my favorite. It is gorgeous, but elegant as well.
I visited Higashi-Murayama City in the western suburb of Tokyo Metropolis with my family last month to see full blown irises. Our destination was Kitayama Park, where the 2016 Iris Festival was being held. The irises were of course good, but the festival event was also attractive. We saw a welcome dance performed by local children, who wore traditional masks and danced in front of the visitors. It was very entertaining.
To get to Kitayama Park, we got on the Seibu-Shinjuku Line train and got off at Higashi-Murayama Station. Our vehicle was the EMU 2000 series. The 2000 series was launched in 1977 to reinforce Seibu Railway's transportation capacity. There were two types of the 2000 series on the Seibu lines. One was the old 2000 series and the other was the new 2000 (2000N) series. Our vehicle was the former.
A total of 102 units of the old 2000 series had been built by Seibu-Tokorozawa Factory for three years. The technical specification of the 2000 series is rather old, but it still keeps its position as the main fleet of the line. The 2000 series is indeed a strongly build train. I slept well on the train, as the sound of its DC motors was very comfortable, like a lullaby for me.
