J3J Episode 19: Sakura, Sakura

  綵及累忮互朸丹
  稱中箔し及籣醱
  衙及狟統統凶曰
  瑯仄中芴捶閫分中化

  Sakura no hanabira ga mau
  Hosoi sakamichi no tochuu
  Inishie no waka utari
  Hageshii yokan udaite 

  Cherry blossoms are dancing
  In the middle of the narrow hill road
  Singing the songs of the past
  Stirring away the remnants of winter

  -- ＞綵＝(bird及田□斥亦件)
     "Sakura, sakura" as (re)arranged by 'bird'
     Transcribed & translated by ear, so sue me.  Especially for that
     last sentence.

Cherry blossom season hit Japan with a snowstorm of white.  Literally.
Most of Tokyo's Young Finns -- kind of like the Young Turks, but with
fewer moustaches -- had arranged to meet at Inokashira-koen in Kichijoji
at 1 PM on a Saturday for a little hanami (累葦, "flower viewing"),
but our plans were wrecked by an unseasonal blast of freezing air:
at midday the temperature outside was 2 deg C (compared to 20+ a week ago)
and the night's drizzle had turned into heavy snow.  Instead, we
detoured to cheapo izakaya chain Uotami (評戔), not to be confused
with Watami (狟戔) or Uozai (評窪), not that a kanji-illiterate person
would ever know the difference based on trivia such as food, atmosphere,
or pricing.  Although Uotami is the first and hopefully last place where
I've seen an abomination called "Zipang", a brand name for -- brace
yourself -- fizzy sake.  It smelled like sake, but tasted like carbonated
sugar water with a squirt of alcohol; I think the most memorable description
was "like artificially flavored cider without the artificial flavor".
Nobody was surprised to learn that this drink was invented by Gekkeikan,
internationally famous exporters of of all the sake dregs considered
undrinkable by the Japanese themselves.

But no matter: on Sunday, there was no longer a single cloud in the sky
and overnight temperatures had risen to a far more tolerable 15 C.
So I headed back to Inokashira-koen with a friend and a picnic basket
in tow.  In proper Japanese style we shuffled slowly in the crowd
all the way from the Kichijoji train station to the park, which was
packed with firmly entrenched picnickers and wannabe-picnickers searching
for a spot.  Inokashira-koen is pretty, no doubt about it, but most of the
cherry trees are clustered around the lake, leaving very few places to
actually sit and engage in the real reason to go flower-viewing, food &
drink.  At the other tip we finally found a level 2x1m patch of unoccupied
grass with direct view of one (1) cherry tree in bloom...

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few novels:

  http://jpatokal.iki.fi/travel/Japan/Tokyo/Sakura/

Mostly from Inokashira-koen, but a few thrown in from Komabano-koen as well.
In case you're wondering, that festive banner above the crowd is a jolly
exhortation reminding that loud noise, karaoke, musical instruments, open
fires and bothering other people are strictly forbidden.  Japan being a
law-abiding society and all, I don't think I saw a single one of these rules
remain unbroken.

And by the time I got around to mailing this out, the cherry blossoms
are gone, the heating is off and it's T-shirt weather again.  Now a
few delightful months of spring, and then the deluge of the rainy
season begins...