The unexpected photo opp

I went to the Meiji Jingu iris garden as I hoped it would provide some good photo opportunities, especially as being able to go on a weekday would avoid the usual crowds that flock to the gardens when the irises are in full bloom.

Unfortunately, I had left it too late this year and whilst there were still some irises left in bloom, they were rather sparse and so not as inspiring as I had hoped, photo wise.  But still a pretty, lush green space in the urban and usually concrete jungle that is Tokyo.

 

Close up, the irisies really are a very lovely flower.  I liked this one because of the water droplets on it.

What ended up being much more interesting than the iris garden was the tanuki (Japanese racoon dog) which live around Tokyo but aren't seen that often.  However there appears to be a couple living around the Meiji Shrine gardens at the moment.  The tanuki becamse centre of attention whilst I was there but didn't seem to bothered by all the attention.  This one was taking an afternoon nap.

Here was one receiving attention from a nice old lady feeding him (or her) bread

Clearly though tanuki can't read... the sign says "Keep out"

So although I wasn't able to get the iris photos I wanted, I was happy to meet a couple of the garden's residents instead.