It's hanami - flower viewing - season in Japan, when people flock to parks and cemeteries and wherever to see sakura, or cherry blossoms. I'm definitely getting into it, and here's my photo-fest to prove it.
We went to Ueno Park a week ago; it's been a chilly spring, so the cherries have emerged more slowly than the Japanese weather service predicted (these predictions and pronouncements are taken quite seriously). But there was still a good crowd. You constantly see people photographing the blossoms. But how can they tell one year's trees apart from the next?
We set out a tarp, which is common in Japan, to eat the picnic lunch we bought in the Ueno train station.
Lucinda had fried calamari.
I had an obento (lunch) box with ginger beef, rice, and sauteed leeks, and a bottle of green tea.
People take naps under the flowers...
... meet friends and sit around box-tables set up for this purpose...
and have hanami parties with fellow suit-wearing salarymen.
Lucinda's entire school had a hanami lunch in Arisugawa Park on Friday.
And the children and I saw a lovely tree at a temple that's 1 block from our house.
No comments:
Post a Comment