Sunday 10 July 2016

Day 192 2016: Now for the waiting...

Day 192: ...waiting for the counting

Today is election day in Japan, an election for just the Upper House, half-term. Normally it would pass without much interest (for the vast majority, not me of course) but much is hanging on this result. Should the governing party win (which they will), they are hoping to make major changes to the Constitution which will likely result in Japan losing its status as a country which is restricted to self-defence, it cannot participate in wars, as such. 

We will know shortly after 8.00pm local time. 

In the meantime, unlike yesterday, today was a fine day, warmish and it seemed perfectly unreasonable to stay indoors awaiting developments (unlike yesterday). 

There is a botanical garden in my local neighbourhood, a short bus ride away. I went there today to pass the waiting time away. I thought it might be helpful to start learning the names of Japanese flora. That is going to take a while, easier to memorise all the politicians' names I think. 

There was much to see, even though it is summer and so not a lot in the way of flowering plants which tend to all happen in spring. Nonetheless, there was much to see...


Roses

Flower stairway

Bamboo

Down the garden path

Dragonfly


 
Then kindly moved into the sun



And another came along

Almost the end of the hydrangeas

A butterfly fluttered by

Pine

Yellowness

A crowd

Enchanted forest

Barking up the right tree

Creeping moss

Bells of mauve

lilypads

Sun, reflections

Spotted moss

return of the dragonfly

A shy sunflower

How to end the day...



As I reached the end of the pathways, I fell into chat with a local. Turns out, the gardens were created by one of the local wealthocrats 'in lieu' of paying taxes...hmm, a little ambivalent about that but I think I will revisit. I can see they will be very pretty in different seasons. 

[Camera : Lumix TZ-85, 3.19pm-4.07pm, 10 July 2016]