Hello hello, today I will be talking a little bit about one of the things Japan is most famous for, the sakura(common name for Japanese cherry blossoms). Sakura have become so ingrained in the national image of Japan that they are celebrated the world over as reminders of Japanese culture at its finest. One of the most striking examples of this is the National Cherry Blossom festival in Washington DC, where thousands attend to celebrate and share the magnificent site of millions of tiny petals flying around like a sweet smelling snow flurry. Back in Japan these blossoms are a symbol of national pride, and are a very welcome sign that spring is coming.
A fun side note here before I go on is that, like in most countries, the coming of spring in Japan also means that the city gardeners are out in full force sprucing up the landscaping across the nation. Now, as you may have figured out from my former adventures, nothing in Japan is quite as it seems. The gardeners here are no exception, and I'll give you a picture for you to figure out first.
Looks normal enough, right? Sure, to the untrained eye. Now I'll show you another photo blatantly showing my point.
Yes, almost all workers in Japan wear ninja shoes called jika tabi. There can only be one logical explanation for this; all Japanese gardeners are ninjas. Well, either that or the shoes were adopted for their flexibility and added mobility, but I prefer to wildly speculate.
Anyway...where was I...
Right. Sakura.
Sakura is such a big deal that the Japanese weather service actually tracks the path of the cherry blossoms' blooming across the nation, giving every person in Japan an idea of when the optimal time to have a picnic will be.
"...to have a picnic..." was probably not the most remarkable phrase you have yet read in your travels, but the real implications of that phrase, the staggering scale that Japanese people take their sakura picnics(called hanami) is something to which I will devote the rest of my time with you here today. The term Hanami(literally "flower viewing") means that once a year around this time, people from across the country get an excuse to skip work or school to go sit under a tree and watch the cherry blossoms fall. Space in the best viewing areas is usually in such high demand that the interns of companies are often sent out the night before the company picnic to literally camp out and stake a claim around the best viewing areas like the one pictured below.
We've actually been indulging a bit with this cultural phenomenon ourselves(I would be lying if I didn't say that many an evening of the past few weeks has been spent asleep under a cherry tree, and not in front of my computer screen blogging about it), and we actually have had a few hanami of our own. I've included below, as my last bit of multimedia today, selected photos taken by my good friend Ben Thomas at one of our hanamis. I wish I had a website to direct you to to see more of Ben's fantastic photography, but he has assured me that as soon as he can he will give me the address of his blog to share with all you fine readers. Anyway, here you go.
A great evening all around. This last photo is of the new guy from my home university, Green Mountain. His name is Rob Lees and he seems to be settling in just fine.
English: Cherry blossom
Japanese: 桜 or 櫻 or さくら
Pronunciation: sah-koo-rah
Dan
(Ben)
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Japanese Time! Japanese word of the day!English: Cherry blossom
Japanese: 桜 or 櫻 or さくら
Pronunciation: sah-koo-rah
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Best Wishes,Dan
