Plum festival opens at Mito's Kairakuen garden

An annual Plum Festival has opened at the Kairaku-en garden north of Tokyo.

Kairaku-en in Mito City, Ibaraki prefecture, is known as one of the 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan.

The 130,000-square-meter garden has some 3,000 plum trees of about 100 varieties.

Garden officials say because of the colder than usual weather this winter, only about 50 trees have come into bloom.

On Saturday, visitors could be seen strolling among the trees, and photographing the ones with blossoms.

Last year's earthquake damaged some of the garden's slopes. It also cracked the clay walls in an old summer house of a feudal lord on the grounds. Restoration work was completed earlier this month.

Park officials say they expect the best time to see the blossoms in full bloom will likely be around mid-March.

The Plum Festival continues until the end of March.

Emperor to be hospitalized on Friday for surgery

Emperor Akihito will enter the hospital on Friday, one day before his scheduled coronary bypass surgery.

The Emperor has been diagnosed with angina. Doctors advised him to undergo a bypass operation on 2 of his 3 coronary arteries to increase the blood supply to his heart.

The surgery will take place at the University of Tokyo hospital.

Doctors say if there are no complications, the Emperor will be able to leave the hospital in about 2 weeks.

The Emperor will continue to take part in official duties until Friday while keeping a watch on his health.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 15:51 +0900 (JST)