A Sunny Monday in May

These photos are from a couple of weeks ago, when I had a spare Monday off. It just took me until today to have the internet capabilities to share them! (I know I complain a lot, but seriously, I go through unreliable phases so often these days.)

It's not often that I've been to the Koko-en on such a beautiful day, only to find it empty. There were maybe three other people in the entire garden when I went! The trick is to get there early in the morning, before the buses of tourists have a chance to start arriving. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some more panorama-style shots of the whole garden.

The koi fish were particularly active that morning. I must have just missed feeding time!

One of the stone paths you can use to cross the ponds in the garden. 

A stone bridge over the main koi pond, without any guardrails. Fun times. 

It was May, but for some reason there were a handful of trees in full autumn colors. No complaints from me, because they were stunning! 

I spotted a few water lilies blooming in a small pond. They were a lovely color!

I got an interesting angle on the castle in the distance. 

I also ran into a playful family of cats, and had a blast photographing the kittens as they were dashing around the thickets. Only a handful of those photos came out well, but it was fun watching them wrestle with each other.

I will be doing a lot of travelling in July, since I'll be taking nearly the entire summer vacation off, and then some, as I get ready to leave Japan (on July 28th! Wow!). So while the next month or so will be slow, posting-wise, I'll try to make up for it in my final weeks in the country.