That's right, it's cherry blossom season. It's the time of year when all of Japan is awash in fluffy pink and white clouds. Everywhere you look, it's beautiful. And you don't even have to step outside to notice the change, you can just feel happiness everywhere - everyone in the entire city is happy. It's pretty incredible, actually.
This Sunday I woke up (late) and meandered outside for a picnic with some friends. First thought: Holy Shit. Before arriving in Japan I looked up the population of Toyama as being almost half a million people. Before Sunday I had not once seen evidence of even half that many people. But suddenly, without warning, everyone, literally everyone, decided to go outside. I had to basically fight my way into a convenience store to buy picnic supplies, and I just had to forget about biking altogether. Kids were running all over, friends were meeting, weird parades of people wearing crazy masks and costumes were going by; it was madness.
The cherry blossoms are definitely quite a sight, however, and definitely worth all the hype. Our picnic under them on Sunday was made even better by Japanese hospitality: we were welcomed in by a group of people having a barbecue, and they gave us cushions and kept feeding us delicious yakisoba (fried noodles) and okonomiyaki (pancake-like thing with veggies and squid), as well as filling our glasses with sake and making us campai (cheers) every few minutes. It was like hanging out on a big, fluffy, sunny cloud with smiling faces around you all day...and then well into the night. And like any dream day, it ended with karaoke.
