Sakura It To Me

April is sakura (cherry blossom) season here.
Japanese people go crazy for cherry blossoms. I was fortunate to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ishikawa. No matter what city I was in, every tree that had even a few blossoms on it was completely swarmed by Japanese people taking photos of it. I have to say that I joined right in the madness and now possess more flowering tree pictures than anyone ever should. In Kanazawa, the blossoms were at their peak from about April 6-12. That week, Kenrokuen, our local famous garden, was free for everyone to go in and view the blossoms. There were festival food stalls everywhere, and the park was open and lit up at night to take full advantage of the short time the trees were blooming.

On Saturday, April 11th, I went to Daishoji for their hanami (cherry blossom viewing) festival. Yes, the Japanese have a specific name for cherry blossom viewing – that’s just how important it is to them. We went on a boat ride down the river and picnicked in a park under the blossoms. During hanami, many people sit under the cherry trees on tarps and blankets, eating and drinking all day long, and when in Japan… After a beautiful day in Daishoji, I went to Zach’s house for an Easter party. We colored Easter-themed coloring book pages, dyed Easter eggs, and ate delicious pineapple/coconut cake that Zach had made. I went home, but some other party-goers headed downtown to hand out the Easter eggs to very confused Japanese people.


The next day the weather was absolutely gorgeous again, so Sarah, Ali and I headed to Kenrokuen to enjoy the cherry blossoms there. The place was absolutely packed with people taking pictures of the blossoms, themselves posing with the blossoms, their kids with the blossoms, their tiny little dogs with the blossoms... We grabbed some tasty corn-on-the-cob, and then crossed the street to sit in front of the castle amongst the groups of reveling Japanese. Tomoko and Daniel surprised us there and invited us to join the group they were with. They kindly welcomed us with snacks and sake and we had quite a lovely time until the sun went down.

The following weekend we had another hanami near the river that was organized for all of the JETs in Ishikawa. By this time, the blossoms were a bit past their prime and we ended up sitting on most of them. It was still quite festive though. Everybody then headed to a block party downtown. There was live music, food stands and people selling all kinds of things. Two Canadian guys had actually set up a Mexican food stand and were cooking amazing tacos, quesadillas and steak fajitas. I had one of each and was in heaven! We ended the night, as we often do, with a few hours of karaoke.

That Sunday was an Earth Day celebration at a park outside of Kanazawa, so Tomoko crammed six of us in her car and away we went. There were artists’ stands, people selling curry, and more live music. One of the bands featured a singer inside a giant globe. There were also belly dancers, drummers and African dancers, a woman playing an accordion, and strange performance art. Little kids were running around and swinging on giant swings while the adults lazed about on a grassy knoll in the sunshine.

I’d have to say that spring is my favorite season! I wish it would last forever, but soon enough the rainy, sweaty summer will be upon us. Oh well, for now, let’s enjoying cherry blossoms!