It was an interesting start, with some frozen blossoms.
Just a few days later, I managed to get some shots by the lake, less than a 10-minute walk from where I live.
We celebrated "o-hanami" (cherry blossom viewing) with a traditional picnic beneath the blossoms on a beautifully warm spring day.
But the rest of the cherry blossom season was a wash-out, with the rain destroying many of the fragile blossoms before they'd had a chance to fully bloom. Regardless, Phil, Yukiko, Amy and I headed out in the rain to enjoy this special season.
Cherry blossoms are at their best when the blossoms make ball-shaped bundles like this
That's Shimosuwa, the town where I live
Lamune, a kind of Japanese lemonade
Phil didn't have much luck with his umbrella in the conditions
Phil and Amy raise their hands like kids do here when they cross the road
We could see my school from the hill
We could see my school from the hill
On the way down the mountain, we stopped at this beautiful shrine, which I hadn't been to since Phil, Yukiko, Kym, Efe and I went five years ago, before Shimosuwa's crazy Onbashira festival.
White and pink blossoms
Last time we came, Efe somehow fell into the rock garden. Oh, Efe...
Oh so beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing Shimosuwa....even though the cherry blossoms, around the lake, won't be flowering. Why do the children put the hands up when crossing the road?
ReplyDeleteIt's a safety thing. Pretty much all schoolkids in Japan walk to school. The hand up indicates their intention to cross as well as making them more visible.
ReplyDelete