Displaying "Mogusaen Plum Festival" plate, trainset 8714 travels on the Keio lineWe had a cold winter this year. As temperatures have been low, the plum trees began blooming one to three weeks later than usual. Mogusaen Garden in Hino City is no exception. Usually, the plums in this garden are in full bloom in mid-February; however, they have not fully bloomed yet this year. Instead of that, I enjoyed “Tsurushi-bina” displayed in a hermitage of the garden (see the photo below). For your information, Tsurushi-bina is a Japanese tradition where ornamental dolls are displayed on strings for Girls' Day (the Doll's Festival for girls).
To visit this plum garden, the nearest railway station is Mogusaen on the Keio line. During the plum blooming season, Keio Electric Railway operates a train with a special plate on the Keio line to promote tourism to Mogusaen. It’s trainset 8714 of the EMU 8000 series. The large plum blossom-shaped plate on the train front makes me feel the arrival of spring. The 8000 series was commissioned in 1992 as Keio's first train to adopt the variable frequency drive (VFD) electric control system. As you know, the RPM and torque of induction motors are adjusted through frequency and voltage in the VFD system. Coupled with a regenerative braking system and vehicle weight reduction, electricity consumption of the 8000 series was reduced by 45 percent compared to the prior trains.
Finally, please check out my previous posts as well about famous plum groves/gardens in the metropolitan area such as Taura Ume-no-sato, Haruna Plum Grove and Ikegami Plum Garden, if you have time.
