Friday 27 May 2016

Rose Garden on the Sotetsu Line

EMU Sotetsu 10000 series arrives at Futamatagawa Station
 
It is rose flower season again in Japan. We can see the beautiful blossoms here and there. They are fully bloomed in public parks, private gardens and on exterior walls of houses and office buildings as well.

There are several reputable rose gardens in the Tokyo metropolitan area... Yono Park, Keisei Rose Garden, Kyu-Furukawa Garden and so on. This year, I visited Yokohama English Garden in Kanagawa Prefecture with my family in the peak blooming season. When we visited the garden, I saw many rose lovers, including foreigners, admiring the blossoms. The flowers were red, pink, yellow and white colored... a total of 850 kinds of roses. We enjoyed the colorful blossoms, and smelled the sweet fragrances. My most favorite ones were large white roses with slightly pink colored tinged in the center of the flowers.

To get to this beautiful garden, the nearest station is Hiranuma-bashi on the Main Line of Sagami Railway (Sotetsu). Sotetsu has a Yokohama-based railway line network. Our vehicle was their representative model... the EMU 10000 series. The 10000 series was launched in 2002 to replace old models such as the 2100 and 6000 series. A total of 8 sets (10-car and 8-car trains), 70 units, have been built so far by Tokyu Sharyo and JR East Niitsu factory. To reduce the manufacturing costs, it has a common spec with JR East's EMU E231series.

Yokohama English Garden... it is a gorgeous rose viewing spot on the Sotetsu Line.

 
Yokohama English Garden near Hiranuma-bashi Station on the Sotetsu Line
 
Official information about the Sotetsu trains (in Japanese):