Kanda River Cherry Blossoms: A Broken Camera in Tokyo

When I visited the Kanda River cherry blossoms in 2017, I had a good and terrible day. Well, even though the sky was cloudy, the flowers were fantastic. The bad? My beloved Pentax K3 camera died. The rear display said goodbye, fizzled,and went black never to revive. Let’s talk about it.

The day my Pentax K-3 died

I had been in the Pentax system since 2012 when I bought a K-30. It was my first “real” DSLR camera, and I enjoyed using it. With its matte orange finish, it always got looks from people. Heck, I thought it was cool, and many years later I still miss it.

Eventually, an upgrade was needed. I bought a Pentax K3 in 2014. For three years, I never had a problem with it. It was another good camera, easy to use and had excellent image quality. The build quality was second to none.

Pentax mightn’t be as popular as Canon or Nikon, but that doesn’t mean its cameras are bad. The problem is they don’t have any features which set them apart from their competitors.

Making the switch to the Fujifilm X-Series

Anyway, I thought long and hard about my next camera. I thought about buying another Pentax. As much as I liked the brand, it didn’t seem to be heading anywhere in those days. It was time for a change.

In the end, I bought a Fujifilm X-T2. Its range of excellent lenses, 4K video, and versatility impressed me. And the talk of its retro feel grabbed me. Everything I heard was very positive. Read more about my first experience with it in, “Testing the Fujifilm X-T2 on Tokyo’s Cherry Blossoms”.

Scouting the Kanda River: Takaido to Hamadayama

Let’s get back to the Kanda River cherry blossoms. As I mentioned, the weather was overcast when I went, but the trees looked fabulous. I walked two enjoyable kilometers from Takaido Station to Hamadayama and back again. It was a great day of flower photography.

By the way, do you know the Kanda River? It’s more like a canal. There is little natural about it where I walked. On both sides of the water are drab, high concrete walls, but it still looks great when the trees are in bloom.

The history of the Kanda River

The river is famous. Its source is the pond in Inokashira Park. Long ago, it was the water source for the Edo Castle (now Imperial Palace). That’s probably why it looks like a canal. They dug it out.

Why the Kanda River cherry blossoms are a Tokyo favorite

The Takaido area of Kanda River is one of my favorite cherry blossom spots. It is picturesque with the many small bridges that cross it. The people who live near it are lucky in the spring.

I’ve never seen the Kanda River cherry blossoms crowded. Few people picnic there. Most jog or walk their dogs. Sometimes photographers come for the flowers. It is a peaceful, local place that doesn’t suffer from Tokyo’s tourist overcrowding. The trees along the river have now changed. You can find out in [The Transformation of the Kanda River Sakura]. Leave questions and comments below.

To learn more about the river, look at the Kanda River Wikipedia page.

My photography gear for this shoot

• Camera body: Pentax K-3
• Lens: SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC WR

Editor’s Note: This post was created in 2017 and published on the now defunct Tokyo in Pics blog. It has become part of our Tokyo Snapped Historical Archive.