The string of scorching days continues, with temperatures in central Tokyo topping 35 degrees Celsius by 10 a.m. on the 29th. Amid the sweltering heat, some 50 crape myrtle street trees along the roughly 200-meter stretch of sidewalk on the Imperial Palace side of the Palaceside Building have burst into gorgeous red, pink, and white bloom, delighting passersby.
The crape myrtle, one of summer's signature flowers, takes its Japanese name, sarusuberi—“monkey slip”—from its trunk, whose bark peels easily to leave a surface so smooth that even a monkey skilled at climbing is said to lose its grip. Because it blooms for roughly three months from summer into early autumn, it is also known as hyakujitsuko, or “hundred days of crimson.” As one flower blooms and falls, new ones open in succession, so the tree appears to stay in continuous bloom.
The tree's smooth surface is said to resemble a human arm and to invite a tickle, earning it yet another nickname, kusuguri-no-ki, the “tickling tree.” Perhaps its many names are a sign of how long this flower has been cherished in Japan.