The 81st annual Plum Festival kicked off at Atami Plum Garden in Shizuoka Prefecture on January 11.

Atami Geisha also celebrated by giving a performance at the opening ceremony.

The garden boasts 469 plum trees of 60 different varieties.

222 of them have started to flower as of January 24.

Visitors were seen taking photos of the flowers.

Visitor / I visit here every year, and it's nice around this time too. It feels like spring is almost here.

The festival will run until March 2.