お花見 Cherry Blossom Viewing

Possibly the most anticipated event of the Japanese calendar has come and gone in the blink of an eye.

My student who is a Buddhist monk tried to explain the significance of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture; their fleeting opening and falling to the ground reminds us that life is short, yet beautiful. The flowers remind us to enjoy life and beautiful nature.

So in the spirit of the season (my third in Japan! Blimey!) I managed to squeeze in no less than three cherry blossom viewing events (known as o-hanami) into my busy schedule!!

• On the Sunday, the first hanami was my own Marshall English School's party, and students coming along meant lots of amazing home-cooked food!!! I myself prepared cold clam pasta, which seemed to go down pretty well!

 

Delicious rice balls and .. take-away pizza (!?)

 My boss opens up some champagne!

 With some of my students

• The following day on Monday I went on a bike ride before my afternoon classes along Meguro River, one of the most famous viewing spots in Tokyo and only about 3 minutes from my place, on an unseasonally hot day with my cowoker, Tom.

 So beautiful!!

 All dressed up to see the blossoms in suits and kimonos!

 We went exploring and stumbled upon this gorgeous hidden Japanese garden in Hiroo city

• By Wednesday the petals were already falling, and the white sakura near Toshi's house looked just like snow!

 Snowy-sakura!

Then we went on a drive (as we do) to a park with reportedly 40,000 cherry blossom trees near Tokorozawa City, though regrettably it was raining so I didn't get any decent pictures..


Coming up.. in 3 days is the start of my 9-day long Golden Week holiday!! I can't wait!
Toshi and I are planning 2 days camping, 3 days with the family in Osaka including a family vacation to Awaji Island for some sightseeing :D

Remember, Remember..

..Wow! Where did November go!?

November 5th is Fireworks Day in the UK, so while doing some night time fishing, Toshi and I played with some sparklers:
１１月５日はイギリスの花火の日。釣りしながら、花火をやりました!

 <-- Before and after! -->

We made tempura, which is deep-fried battered fish (^-^)/

A GIANT pear from one of my students! (Yes, that is a pear and not an apple.)

Toshi will enter a half-marathon in Tokyo on Dec 15th, so I've been accompanying his training (on my bicycle of course!). 15.6km each way 4 times has really bulked up my leg muscles!
トシくんのマラソントレーニングに自転車でついていった。

 頑張って！

A trip to see the Autum leaves last week ^^

I now babysit a friend's baby once a week, and he's so cute! (*^^*)

And finally, I got a Japanese Driver's Licence! Woohoo!

F is for..

Festive

Happy December everyone! I've heard it's been severely cold back in the UK so please take care everyone!  After enduring the hottest summer in Tokyo ever, I'm glad I didn't go through the coldest November in 17 years! 

As it's the 1st of December, I've put up my decorations and I'm playing christmas music. We've also been giving christmas-themed kids lessons at Aeon too.

Thank you to my Grandma for the surprise advent calendar:





Of course Japan isn't a Christian country, so there are bound to be a few differences...

A christmas cake in Japan is a white sponge with strawberries and cream:

Only £23.76!!

Santa is Japanese and has bad teeth:

Christmas tree decorations can be a little different...

But I'm very happy they put up a Coca-Cola advert on my way to work!!

 "Let's unwrap happiness"

F is for..
Fall

Ginkgo trees (which smell awful but look lovely) in Hikarigaoka and trees in Nerima

F is for..
Food

Giant apples @ £3.04 each!!

Yakitori,  a photo of my very first meal in Japan, and raw duck

Natto, fermented soybeans (I wasn't smiling after trying it!) and making takoyaki (octopus balls)

 Sushi at a 'train sushi' restaurant and grilled tuna head!

Hanami.. and me!

It's Cherry Blossom season! The Sakura 桜 flower is Japan's national flower, and it is, for lack of a better phrase, a really big deal in Japan.
My students started talking about the coming of Spring and the blooming of the sakura all the way back in January.

I have compiled a few reasons as to the importance of this flower.

• The blossoms last only a week or so. The transient nature of the flowers symbolize the delicacy of our lives and death, and remind us not to take our lives for granted.
• The flowers face not upwards towards the Sun, but downwards towards us.
• The cherry blossoms bloom at the start of the Japanese academic year, and thus remind the Japanese of their youth and school-aged days.
• The pale pink cherry blossoms symbolise youth and love.

The sakura blossom is a popular design, and can be found on the 100yen coin, clothing, man hole covers, toilet paper- you name it!!

Cherry Blossom Viewing Parties, or hanami 花見 are a picnic held under a cherry blossom tree. The most famous parks, including Ueno Park, can get extremely crowded and crammed with drunk young Japanese men climbing on the trees and singing obnoxiously loud karaoke. Fortunately, I managed to avoid such rowdy places!!

Night-time Hanami with some students Saturday night in Hikarigaoka Park

It was very cold, but very enjoyable!!!

The mountains of beer at the supermarket, and posing with the Sakura.

 Inokashira Park, Kichijouji, West Tokyo on Sunday afternoon

Spring has come!

Please enjoy this photo of early Spring, taken across the road from my apartment block. The ume blossoms were pretty, but short-lived, and the mikan oranges can be seen growing in many gardens in my neighbourhood.

Edit: The fruit has begun to fall from the tree, and since taking one home, I have realised they are in fact huge grapefruit ^^

Soon will be the hanami, or Cherry Blossom viewing festival, scheduled at the end of the month. My AEON students are getting very anxious, hoping the peak of the festival will fall on a weekend, so everyone can enjoy the blossoms together.

A Most Japanese Weekend

hours in Japan: Food, Drink and Culture.

"Right now, I'm living abroad in Japan. My energy and money are spent... and people that I work with were involved in both. I'm Clare Dery, and today was the most Japanese day of my life."

Disclaimer: The following blog entry contains many images and videos filled with amazing contrasting traditional and modern Japanese elements. 

Click to proceed with caution.

日本の秋 Autumn in Japan

Hikarigaoka's main pedestrian pathway is lined with Ginkgo trees. Although the fruit smells bad (somewhat like faeces in my opinion!), the colour of the leaves have suddenly changed to a striking, uniform yellow.

Observing and celebrating the seasons is a big part of the culture in Japan, and the changing of the leaves is a dramatic visual transition from Summer to Autumn. The three weeks or so while the coloured leaves remain on the trees is a busy time for tourism and events. Parks and popular tourist spots (e.g. Hakone, where I went two weeks ago) are extremely croweded as everyone wants to take a photo!

Today I visited Hikarigaoka kouen or Park. Being the weekend, it was bustling with a flea market, skaters, a tai-chi club, and with families enjoying the Autumn leaves together. The paths were scattered with fallen leaves; it was beautiful!

 

It was very hot (21 or 22 'C), so I played tennis in Hikarigaoka park with four students and with my colleague, Aki-Sensei.