Subject: Tokyo, Japan has a Dog-Poo Flower as Well
From: Alex Kemp
Date: Friday, 24 July 2015 16:31:07 +0100
To: Oliver Kemp, Micaela Kemp, Liisa Kemp, Davin Kemp
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-33636869

I wrote to you recently about the Titan Arum at Cambridge University Botanic Garden that on 18/19 July began to flower for the first time in 11 years (11,000 folks went to see that wonder). Well, it turns out that the Japanese like the smell of rotting flesh as well:

Titan arum on display in a botanical park in Tokyo
A Titan Arum flowering at the Jindai botanical gardens, Tokyo, has drawn long queues of visitors

I'm always interested to hear of correspondences between the Japanese & the Brits. We are, after all, both martial nations that live on small islands close to the same large landmass.

The BBC report (link at top) is dated Thursday 23 July 2014 & states that the Titan is 2m tall (6.5 feet) and has flowered for the first time in 5 years. The Jindai botanical gardens, located in the city of Chofu (itself at the western end of the Tokyo Metropolis), have extended their opening hours to allow as many people as possible to gain full exposure to this botanical beauty & it's vile stench for the 2 days that it lasts. Ah! What an allegory for the brief whisper that is our life.

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Alex Kemp