Today's Picture: 067

[akujunkan]

Is of:


hanami, or flower-viewing. Specifically, cherry blossoms. Coming out to view the cherry blossoms is a Big Thing in Japan. No, wait, it's a BIG THING. News media start reporting on hanami weeks before the flowers start blooming, and once they are blooming, you can't turn around without a newscaster or paper telling you what percentage of the blossoms are in bloom in what areas of the city, what tomorrow's weather is likely to mean for the longevity of the blooms, and reporting the latest developments on the "sakura front" as the cherry blossoms bloom across Japan.

For their part, regular people take every opportunity to get together with their friends and eat and drink under the trees, be it morning, noon, or night. Tonight I went on hanami with a group of friends to Hirano Jinja, which is a Shinto shrine I walk though each day on my way to and from school. Hirano Jinja is at least a thousand years old, and it's famous primarily for its sakura--there are several thousand varieties planted on the shrine grounds. (Personally, I doubt the number is this high, but my Japanese friends are adamant that there are thousands, not hundreds.)

Anyway, Hirano is so famous that a lot of famous people go there too. Tonight alone we saw several maiko and Baruto, a famous(ish) sumo wrestler from Estonia. He walked right by our table with his entourage and went into the public bathroom. I mention this only because the sight of his head and torso poking up over the top of the fence (he's 1.3 the height of the average Japanese man) watching everyone watch him pee was one of the most amusing things I've seen in ages. I only wish I'd had my digital camera with me. The Japanese surely did not hold back taking his picture while he went about his business.

In any event, above is a picture I snapped with my cellphone of a traditional red makijaya (tea house for passersby) lantern with some sakura blooms behind it.



That will be all.

Comments

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

That's like how the fall foliage is treated here in New England. You get the color forecasting, the updating on where peak is, the brilliance of the colors compared to past falls, how the weather is affecting the color production, and so on.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, fall foliage is huge in Japan too. They even have a term for it: koyogari, or "red maple leaf hunting." But what makes sakura such a big thing for the Japanese is that they only bloom for a week or so before dying back, and this aligns nicely with the cultural appreciation of...sad phenomena that can't be helped, essentially.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

the smaller scale cherry blossom festival is this weekend in DC. such a nice gift from japan.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I wish I could be there too! I've got some great photos of the sakura with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

Ah...if only all beauty in the planet was given this much attention and reverence. I would LOVE to start this tradition as it relates to the soon to be blooming lilacs. Given the beauty and aroma of these precious flowers, as well as the short time span for enjoying them, I would love for them to be given more attention. But I do go on....

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Oh, the lilacs definitely. And apple blossoms too, although I don't know of any apple trees in W-town since the beavers carted all ours off into the trail wetlands years ago (get your mind out of the gutter, Bran).

In fact, I'd like for W-town to stop building overpriced medical facilities and just the few remaining muskrats and foxes and whatever chill in the space they have left.

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

I hear that. The "Nature Trail" now has a lovely view of the back of one of those buildings and the highway. Yippee.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

And I love how no one is making the connection that all those deer and vermin in everyone's backyard and on thirty are only there because we keep shrinking their habitat.

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they even razed the area near Wong's. So now there'll be even more on the highway and on the lake properties.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Oh no! That little hillock with all the trees on it between Wongs and where the Dominos is? I *loved* that place. It's just the sort of little island of greenery that would have a Shinto shrine in it were it Japan.

Why the fuck did they raise it? It's not like half the stripmall footage in W-town isn't vacant already...

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but I fear they're going to parcel it off with the old Richard's lot. Total crap. That hill was my favorite. The deer were safe thanks to the fence (mostly) and you had a nice view of them every year. I'm just so sad about it.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Me too. Honestly...so much of W-town is vacant or ghettofab anyway. Who could think that anything they put in there would be a money maker in that city in this economic climate?

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

I don't understand it. We keep building more strip malls when the other ones only have like one business per mall already. So stupid.