Almost spring

Today we went to 柴又 (Shibamata, Tokyo).
It’s a 下町 (traditional, downtown) area of Tokyo that I like alot. (Click here to see my post in which I explain a little about this area and have more photos.)

We also went to a nearby park and saw the 梅の花 (Plum flowers) and 寒桜 (Winter Cherry Blossoms) were in bloom.

梅の花 (Plum flowers)

寒桜 (Winter Cherry Blossoms)

It’s still cold in Tokyo…but spring’s not too far off now.

What kinds of flowers are in bloom where you live in the world?
What are the signs of winter ending and spring coming in your country?

Flowers

My daughters have final exams at school next week, so they’ve been studying hard these days.

So, my wife decided to go out today together and let them stay home alone to study.

We didn’t go far nor for long. My wife prepared lunch for the four of us (my youngest isn’t home…she’s currently on a ski-trip in 新潟 (Niigata). Click here to read about that.), we ate lunch together…then we left them to study. We were back before dinner.

We went on a bicycle ride to a nearby park and had a beer together and talked for awhile.

There were a number of trees with 寒桜 (Kanzakura)…which is a type of Sakura cherry-blossom that blooms in colder weather (earlier than other cherry-blossoms):

And 梅 (Plum Blossoms):

And here’s pictures of 水仙 (Daffodils) that were there:

一番好きな花は何？ (What’s your favorite flower?)

Mine is 「ハエトリグザ」 (Venus Flytrap). Is that a flower? No?
OK, then, I’d say my favorite is 桜 (Sakura cherry blossoms).

湯島天神

Yesterday we went to 湯島天神 (Yushima-Tenjin Shrine) in 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo).

The 梅の花 (Plum blossoms) were beginning to bloom. (They had posters up advertising their annual 梅の祭 (Plum Festival) that they will hold beginning next week.)

It’s a beautiful shrine…especially when the plum blossoms are in bloom.

At the shrine, my wife and I each bought a cup of 甘酒 (a hot, sweet fermented rice drink. (lit. sweet sake)). It’s often sold at Japanese shrines in the winter.
It was good.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday:

Booth selling "Daruma".

千羽鶴 ("1000 Paper Cranes") for luck.

Plum blossom

From the shrine, we went to a nearby department store (I have a wife and three teenage daughters. Of course, they love to shop!).

The floor selling make-up and women’s clothes also had a display of Valentine’s chocolates (I mentioned in a previous post that women give hand-made chocolate to men on Valentine’s Day in Japan. Click here to read it.)

「ハートチョコ」 (♥-shaped chocolate) and 「ハートせんべい」 (♥-shaped rice crackers)

「ハートせんべい」 ( ♥-shaped rice crackers)

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By the way, those visitors to my site who are in Japan…did you feel that 地震 (earthquake) at about 6:30AM yesterday?

春の七草

Today is the seventh day of the new year.
It’s a Japanese tradition from China to eat a special dish made with 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) on this day.

In China, the new year starts at the beginning of Spring. Japan used to follow this calendar, too.
That’s the reason that one way to write “New Year” in Japanese is 「新春」. It means “New Year“…but a literal translation would be “New Spring“.

The dish you meant to eat this morning with the 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) is called 「七草粥」 (“Seven Herbs Porridge“).

The picture above is the 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) that my wife used to make this 「七草粥」 (“Seven Herbs Porridge“):

I put a 梅干し (Japanese salty plum) in mine.
It was quite good.