I'm temporally shelving the topic of the Romancecar Museum, and showing a seasonal picture today. From March through May, the progress of the "Sakura front (cherry-blossom front)" is reported nightly by the Meteorological Agency, as it makes its way north through the archipelago. The 2022 cherry-blossom front is already arriving at Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan.
During this year's cherry blooming season, I visited several viewing spots in Tokyo, Chiba and one more... Kikuna Sakura-yama (cherry mountain) Park in Yokohama City. It looked like just a common public park in a residential area, but pink-colored double cherry blossoms were "shining" backed by the spring blue sky. It was so beautiful. Reputable cherry blossoms viewing spots are good, but local spots such as Kikuna Sakura-yama Park are really good. It's because we can see local people's peaceful lives.
To visit Kikuna Sakura-yama Park, the nearest railway station is Kikuna on the Tokyu-Toyoko line. On the way back home, I came across a special poster train celebrating the 100th anniversary of Tokyu Corporation. It was set 5051 of the EMU Tokyu 5050 series. As you know, Tokyu is a conglomerate consisting of transportation, real estate, hotel and retail business. It was established in 1922 as a small railway company named Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway. It's a part of the present Meguro and Tamagawa lines. 100 years later, Tokyu has a labyrinthine railway network in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture. The conglomerate does 10 billion dollars a year in sales on a consolidated basis.
