Since the rainy season ended on the 20th of this month, the Tokyo area has experienced a series of "extremely hot days" with temperatures reaching 35 degrees or higher. Defying the intense midsummer heat, the crape myrtle roadside trees lining the sidewalk on the Imperial Palace side of Palaceside Building are in full bloom. Their lovely pink, red, and white flowers delight the eyes of passersby.
The crape myrtles were planted by the building in the spring of 2007. At the time, Japanese pagoda trees and ubame oak shrubs lined the street, but following a suggestion from tenants inside the building wishing for flowering trees, crape myrtles were planted for their resilience to exhaust fumes.
Around 50 crape myrtle trees line the approximately 200-meter sidewalk. As new blossoms continually open on the same tree, making it seem as if they bloom for 100 days roughly from July through September, the tree is also known in Japanese as "hyakujitsuko" (hundred-day red). The peak of summer is just ahead. Tomorrow, the 23rd, marks Taisho (Major Heat), the hottest period of the year.