お花見地図

It’s getting close to 花見 (“Cherry-Blossom Viewing“) time in Japan.

Every spring, during the short time that the pink Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) are in bloom, Japanese people enjoying hanami (“Cherry-Blossom Viewing“).

This ancient Japanese tradition is basically a picnic under the Sakura trees.

Japanese people will often join a “hanami” party more than once during the period the flowers are in bloom…because people will often join a party with friends, another with co-workers, and another with their family.

It’s very enjoyable to sit under the delicate flowers as they fall from the trees in the spring breeze like a pink snowfall and enjoy good food and beer and conversation with friends and / or family.

Sakura is a symbol of Japan and it’s appreciated for it’s beauty and also that it’s gentle and is gone soon after it blooms…like life itself.
Quite a contrast from a strong thorny flower with a long life like a rose.

Anyways, “MAPPLE” is probably the most famous map company in Japan. And on their website they have a 「お花見地図」 (“Cherry-Blossom Viewing Map“).

On this map, you choose an area of Japan from the list on the left (it looks like this):

And then the map will highlight that area of the map of Japan with images of Sakura trees that are color-coded to indicate whether the sakura flowers in that area are “in full bloom”, “just beginning to bloom”, “not yet”, “almost all past”, or “finished”.

There’s a key in the upper-left corner of the site that indicates what the colored trees mean:

If you can read Japanese, you can click here to see the 「お花見地図」 (“Cherry-Blossom Viewing Map“).

Have you ever gone on a 「花見」 (Cherry Blossom Viewing)? Did you enjoy it?
Will you go this year?

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?

勤労感謝の日

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, today is the Japanese holiday 「勤労感謝の日」 (Labor Day).

And also, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, we went to the park together today. We enjoyed the time together outdoors in the nice weather by playing ball and having lunch.

It was a nice day.

A few photos I took in the park:

パンジー

Autumn leaves

The weather today in Tokyo was mostly sunny and 14°C. The weather was nice for the entire three-day weekend.

How about where you live? What did you do this weekend? How was the weather?

ハナショウブ

Today we went to a 「花菖蒲祭」 (Japanese Iris flower festival).

It was near our house, so we rode our bicycles there. On the way, we stopped by a store and bought some 弁当 (Japanese bento lunches) and had a picnic among all the purple flowers.

It had been raining for the past couple of days, but today was a beautiful day…and the temperature was 28°C (82.4°F). It’s becoming summer. Before long, it will be extremely hot in Tokyo!

さ・く・ら・ま・つ・り

Today we went to a nearby 桜祭り (Cherry Blossom Festival) and enjoyed a 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) picnic that my wife and daughters made.

Our lunch was おにぎり (rice balls), 卵焼き (Japanese grilled eggs), broccoli, chicken, 苺 (strawberries), cookies, and beer*!
It was an excellent picnic lunch! ♥

(*Of course, only my wife and I had beer. Our daughters had tea. 😉 )

Here are some photos we took:

Many people were enjoying 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing)

There are many turtles, ducks and carp in the pond.

Drying in the sun

Cherry Blossom tree next to a bus stop

「かき氷」 (Shaved Ice) vendor

藤

Yesterday we went to see the 藤 (Wisteria) flowers in bloom.

These flowers grow like vines over the bamboo frames that are built specifically for these flowers and they hang down like bunches of grapes.

It looks nice.

Maybe after reading my recent posts about the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) and now about the 藤 (Wisteria), you think that I really love flowers.

I do appreciate flowers…actually nature, in general.

But when I was younger, I didn’t care much at all about that. I’ve never even heard of “Wisteria” or even “Cherry Blossoms” growing up.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older or because I have a wife and three daughters…and girls love flowers (at least, my girls do).

So, now, due to my wife and daughters’ interest, I know the names of more flowers in Japanese than I do in English. For example, I knew that the flowers we went to see today were 藤　(Fuji) in Japanese…but I had to check a dictionary to learn the English name of the flower (which is, as I mentioned above, Wisteria. So I learned a new English word today! (^_^). )

Other flowers that I know that names of in Japanese (some of which I don’t know the English name for):

桜 (Cherry Blossom), 藤 (Wisteria), たんぽぽ (Dandelion), バラ (Rose), チューリップ (Tulip), 菊 (‘Mum), ボタン (I don’t know what this is called in English), 梅 (Plum (blossom)), ひまわり (Sunflower), スミレ (Violet), ツバキ (I don’t know this one’s English name either), ユリ (Lily), ひなぎく (Daisy)…

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head…but you get the idea. Since having three daughters, I could probably get a job in a flower shop now!

Anyways…it’s good for me. I’ve learned to appreciate nature.

And I enjoy going out with my family regardless of where we go. Personally I enjoy going to festivals best…but my wife and children have taught me to stop and smell the flowers too!