Yes folks. It's here. Spring. Cherry blossoms. Insobriety. Warmth (well almost)....

Yesterday was a magnificent day, brilliant blue skies, 22 degrees and cherry blossoms everywhere. Mikorin (aka Minako) and I had plans to go to Odaiba for the Ashes and Show exhibition but hell, on a day like yesterday you really don't wanna be inside at all. We opted for an impromptu hanami party with Sachika, and for a little while (they had to work later) Tyler and Darin. We hit the row boats for sunset and drank a healthy amount of beverages and got very very silly till very late in the evening...

Seriously, there is nothing like hanami time in Japan. It's insanely fun and everyone cuts loose and revels in the celebration of spring. March/April is the busiest time of all for most companies and businesses, with taxes due, uni graduates job-hunting (a seriously huge market), end of fiscal year reports due and forward planning all keeping many people late at work. My private lessons have been (temporarily) halved for the past week or so as a result of my students work commitments. Hanami is this great pressure-valve release for the vast majority of the population. Not to mention a celebration for uni and school graduates....

I had my first hanami party of the season last Saturday with Deanne and Masao and their friends and, despite the weather being not so friendly and the blossoms not quite being out yet, it was a bloody excellent day and I got to ride away with a bunch of plastic cherry blossoms... Next one on the schedule - Kat and Darins on Sunday. Yay. Insobriety.

I've started a Hanami 2007 album at flickr. No doubt it will be added to over the next week or so.

[posted with ecto]

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