Having read that the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden is Tokyo's oldest garden (established in 1629) and that many of the 90 red and white plum trees had flowered, I decided to make the 10-minute-from-Suidobashi-station trip to the gardens to have a look for myself. Since it's still winter, there wasn't much greenery around. Visitors are greeted with a bridge over the pond with black koi fish swimming about not long after entering. There's an island in the middle of the pond as well. Some of the plum trees hadn't completely flowered yet, but there were several white, light pink and dark pink ones that had. I learnt that the dark pink ones had the strongest blossom smell for some reason, but they were all a sight to behold. The garden wasn't crowded given it was a weekday afternoon, and the blue, cloudless sky made for many good photos. All in all, a nice place to visit to avoid the crowds during plum blossom season.