sakura time

for those of you who don't know what sakura means, it is cherry blossoms, and it marks the beginning of spring here in japan. and what a beautiful way to signify a beginning!

i went to tokyo this past sunday to hanami, "flower watch" (i'm not going to take credit for this one, isaac told me what it meant as he accompanied me to the big city).
we went to ueno park first and we were immediately struck by both the beauty of the trees and...the filth of the garbage underneath the trees. apparently, sakura not only means cherry blossom time, but also beer-drinking time as well as throw your trash everywhere time. notice the big pile down the main drag.

the best (ok, worst) was that it didn't smell like the sweet pungency of flowers, but instead like a beer burp. but not everywhere where the sakura exists allows such bingeful recreation. we happened upon another park in shinujku. according to the map it was the shinjuku goen, roughly translated "shinjuku park". makes sense.

it became apparent that this was the place to be hanami-ers, and since it was sunday there were a lot of kids running around, not being hanami-ers, but being cute and eager to stare at the stangeness of us. there are two very evident things about isaac and i that cause them to gape: his height, and my hair. it's a constant battle between being at a celebrity-like status to the smelly foreigner (don't sit next to them on trains) status. and one of the best things about being obviously foreign and lost in a big city like tokyo is that friendly japanese men come up and ask you if you need help. this happened three times in one day! it just puts your faith back in humanity when you experience kindness like that. i just hope that someday i can return the favor.
ok, back to sakura. do you remember in "bambi" when he gets his antlers all tangled up in the blossoms of the tree? well, we tried to re-inact this scene. personally i think isaac captured it more accurately.