Introduction of Nice Places - Tsurumi Town of Kanagawa Prefecture

Tsurumi is my hometown located in the northern east of Yokohama City. I was born and brought up here for more than 20 years. Though this town is often regarded as just a bed town because it is located between the two biggest Stations of Kanagawa Prefecture (Yokohama Station and Kawasaki Station), it definitely has nice landscapes throughout the year. Let's see how Tsurumi changes from spring to winter.

By the way, the first photo is from Tsurumi River, a symbol of this town. It must be comfortable to walk along the river in a good weather like this.

In spring, Mitsuike Park is a must-visit spot of Tsurumi Town. Designated as one of the Top 100 Sakura Spots of Japan, this peaceful park is literally surrounded with quite a few Sakura trees. Many of them are Someiyoshino, the most famous and common kind of Sakura tree. And the rest consists of various kinds of rare Sakura trees.

One of such rare Sakura trees is Shirotae, which literally means awesome white color. These pure-white blossoms are like inviting us to the heaven.

Another is Kokeshimizu, which means clean beautiful river with moss. These gentle pink and green colors are the best blossom I've ever seen in my life. I must recommend you again that you must come to this park in spring to enjoy rare Sakura blossoms which are not available in line in other places.

Sakura is not the only beauty of spring in Tsurumi Town. Sojiji Temple is filled with natural red colors soon after the Sakura blossoms fall. You will be amazed to find the red spring maple leaves at the center of the garden. They will soon lose this authentic red color, but will get red in autumn again.

Another red color comes from Azalea flowers near the big buddhism statue. The volume of the flowers have simply changes the whole atmosphere of the surroundings. The red colors are, indeed, in harmony with the temple.

After the red colors, Sojiji Temple is filled with energetic green color. It is quite comfortable to walk in a warm-but-not-so-humid weather in May.

June is definitely one of the most beautiful months that you shouldn't miss. Colorful Hydrangea blooms throughout Sojiji Temple to make us want to walk even on a rainy day.

After the long period of summer, autumn, the best season to take photos, comes to Sojiji Temple. The temple is literally decorated with red, orange and yellow colors here.

It must be one of the greatest moments to stay and have a rest under the orange roof. Sojiji Temple gives you such a peaceful moment for sure.

Indeed, my best shot in 2014 was created under this orange roof, which has achieved my highest score in 500px so far. This is one of the reasons why I am proud of my hometown.

It might be interesting to visit Sojiji Temple at night, especially in winter when the sky gets more transparent easily. We can see stars in such conditions, too. I hope that you feel Tsurumi Town has beautiful natural landscapes in each of the four seasons.

These are only a limited selection of the attractive points of Tsurumi Town. There are lots of other nice landscapes, nice shops and nice people. I wish I manage to convey more and more about Tsurumi in my life.