While writing this entry I have a view of the cherry blossom tree outside our balcony and he's looking rather sad, with very few flowers left... On our return from Korea, however, he greeted us in all his splendour and we realised that Sakura Season had finally started! This part of spring is widely anticipated and anxiously covered by the Japanese media, with daily reports on the progress of the cherry blossom "front". Understanding the importance of the sakura can be hard for foreigners, because it's such a big part of the Japanese psyche. Not only has the sakura been designated the national flower, but it seems to be the ultimate emblem of Japanese culture. Its fleeting nature epitomises mono no aware, the aesthetic of impermanence. Delicate, elegant and ephemeral, the pink flowers have inspired poets and philosophers for centuries, not to mention countless partygoers who get drunk during hanami (flower watching) parties!
The importance of the cherry blossom season goes beyond aesthetics, it also means big bucks! Millions of people crowd the country's parks and spend freely on picnic tarps, food and alcohol, meaning huge sales for all the retailers involved. Vaughan and I kept our first hanami very simple (fresh pineapple & water), but that's just because we decided to bike to Nishi Park on a whim!
The cherry blossom trees form a great backdrop for portraits so no surprises that we saw a constant stream of people having their picture taken (this couple got some help from Vaughan).
Last Friday Yukino invited us to a 'proper' hanami party at Ohori Park, together with her friends Sumiko, Ai & Alejandro. We brought along fellow JET Roman and all had a really cool evening :-).
On Sunday we biked to Ohori Park again to check out some more trees and you could definitely tell that the end was near. These two ladies were still enjoying the view though!
3 comments:
Nice site...funnily enough, with the same template as mine...hanami came early in kawasaki & it's been falling for a few days. The pavement is sodden with cherry blossoms - seeing them swirl in the wind or lying on the ground is just as lovely as seeing them on the trees.
Sakura season is always pretty. I was interested to note that most of the trees in your photos had white(ish) flowers. Up in Monzen & Ishikawa it's very pink. At the back of my office in Nanao was a small park that was a sea of blooms in spring.
Seems like a good party too.
Hey everyone, thanks for your comments! Unfortunately the cherry blossoms have now all disappeared in Fukuoka; we might have to travel up north to catch a glimpse of them :-(. My first sakura season was great though, definitely something to look forward to next year!
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