Hanami

Cherry blossom viewing -- Hanami in Japanese -- is serious business. The Sakura Zensen, or cherry blossom front, is tracked with the same care and precision that might be given to an approaching hurricane. The nightly newscasts run elaborate maps depicting front lines, percentages of blossoms, and expected peak dates.

In early March, Starbucks began carrying their "Sakura" line of mugs and music. By the time I got around to taking a photo, sadly, they were no longer the featured display:



I am currently reading a great book called "Hokkaido Highway Blues", written by a fellow named Will Ferguson. After teaching English in Japan for a few years, Will took some time off and hitchhiked from the extreme southern tip of Kyushu, through to the northernmost point of Hokkaido, following the cherry blossom front the whole way.

We engaged in Hanami last weekend with some friends at Shinjuku Gyoen, one of the most famous areas in Tokyo for cherry blossom viewing. Predictably perhaps, it was a bit crowded:



This picture was taken toward the front of the park. Shinjuku Gyoen is a large park, and as we wandered through toward the back, we eventually did find a patch of grass near a grove of cherry trees to call our own. We sat down, ate our lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, sipping Kirin beer, and enjoying the cherry blossoms.

Robert had a great time running around and around the little glade where we were sitting. The Japanese ladies sitting near us gave him plenty of attention, of course, and he ate it right up. Sarah and I took turns chasing him down whenever he wandered off; by the end of the afternoon, we were tired, and Robert was so exhausted that he took a second nap and still went to bed early without complaint. Here's a picture of our little tree-hugger at Shinjuku Gyoen just before his second nap:



On Sunday afternoon, my boss hosted a get-together in the party room at his apartment building for his employees. He lives in Northwest Tokyo, about a 45 minute trip from our apartment, on a street famed for its cherry blossoms. The street is divided, with a wide median between directions. The median was planted with cherry trees many years ago, and has plenty of space for laying out blankets beneath them. Even though the trees were mostly spent, there were still crowds of people camped out beneath them.