update

its been a while.. sorry blog. there fore i will write an extra long one ><

at the beginning of april there was SAKURA! blooming in Japan everywhere. it was really beautiful! and the beauty is that in Japan sakura is everywhere, so when its the blooming season, we can see pink patches here and there all over the city. I was all like excited and taking lots of pictures everywhere, while many japanese people I know watch with indifferent coolness.. my hostmother even said that she is so used to sakura blooming every year that she doesnt take the effort to go see them anymore. I was really ???? confused. how can anyone be tired of seeing these pink things blooming among the green trees and making this world so pretty? i went to at least 5-6 sakura spots and each place is pretty in its own way. To me it's like no wonder sakura is so famous and symbolic in Japan. Though i would say many people at the spots are foreign tourists, but still the people doing the hanami (flower-watching party?) are mostly japanese.

talk about hanami's.. according to my observation and japanese people's alibi, the main purpose for sitting beneath the sakura trees and having a party might be more than appreciating the little pink flowers. Actually I went to one too. It started at 10 in the morning and went until sunset. When me and a friend arrived there at 4pm, 80% of the people are drunk already. we started drinking at 10, they said. And it is totally permittable! maybe its the only time Japanese people are allowed to drink in the day time and act drunk and crazy and party and not be looked at weird. (screw the sakuras.. most people are too drunk to see them) yeah it is kinda fun in its own way too... and i know quite a few people who would love this.. drinking all day long.. yeah can you believe those same bunch went to a bar that same night?

anyway. for me seeing sakura in the state of soberness is best. from a trusted source i learned that since april or the spring is when all the new fresh-out-of-college employees start their work, securing the best hanami-spots under the tree is their first job entering their companies. The trusted source's younger brother was assigned such a duty and he had to sit under the tree from early morning through the whole day until the evening when the party starts.. kind of a cool first task i would say.

this is right outside our house->


however im sad to say by today they all fell (the season is really short.. about 1 week and then they fall). but maybe their being short lived is a beauty in itself.