What's the story?
Originally uploaded by nofrills.
Morning glory is very often seen in Japan in summer. When I was six or seven years old, my school gave us the seed for each of us to plant at our houses, in order to see how the plant grows. It's part of elementary scientific education.
Morning glory is called 朝顔 ("asa gao") in Japan, which literally means "morning face". Two or three centuries ago, it was like tulips in Europe -- everybody was so keen on the plant and there was a huge craze.
The owner of this house in this picture seems to be keeping a very traditional (and reasonable) way. If you plant some morning glory and let it grow on the wall, the leaves will block sunshine and make the house cooler.
