Japanese people really appreciate flowers. Chreey blossoms,for exemple, are often thought of as a symbol for the Japan country. Besides Chreey blossoms, we enjoy iris in May, lotus flowers in August and Japanese bush clovers in September. Every month we can enjoy a new flower.

In June we have hydrangea. June is also the time of the rainy season called "Tsuyu". Hydrangea's big ball shaped flowers look brilliant in the rain.

Every year, I visit some famous hydrangea-viewing places around Tokyo. One place is Hakusan shurine in the middle of Tokyo, another is Meigetsu-in which is called "hydrangea temple" in Kamakura. In these two places, there are thausands of hydrangea planted both sides of the entrance path. It rains nonstop for days, some people fell depressing, but it is a chance for hydrangea-viewing for me.

Do you know what hydrangea symbolize in the language of flowers? Hydrangeas means "fickle". This is due to the fact that the colour of hydrangeas can change. Depending on the acidity of soil, hydrangeas can be dark blue to light pink. When I was a child, my grandmother poured ahes of briquet on the soil of hydrangeas in her garden and a few days later, the colour changed from blue to pink. This seemd like magic for me.

To me, one of the most beautiful scenes in Japan is the sight of a temple pathway discovering many hydrangea flowers overlap each other silently in the rain.