hanami

well, it's almost been a year since we left home. the 14th of this month will mark our anniversary of moving to japan. wow. time goes so quickly. it's hard to believe that we have really been here this long.
john's sister suni and her boyfriend todd stayed with us for two weeks and just left on thursday the 6th. it was a wonderful visit. we took a short trip to busan, korea together as well as a day trip to nakagawa onsen. we spent most of our time visiting and wandering around our fair city.

the cherry blossoms are in full bloom now and they truly are beautiful. we haven't attended any sakura hanami (cherry blossom viewings), but have en joyed the blooms on our own terms. the hanami parties are surprisingly digusting. loads of people set out for the parks at night with giant blue tarps for picnic blankets. they set up generators to light up the trees like crime scenes and bring out charcoal grills and huge coolers. some even bring karaoke machines. the noise itself is so overbearing you can't relax. the salary men attend after work so they are still in their suits. they get so drunk that most of them skirt the edges of the picnics stumbling in dangerous zigzagged paths. like loaded guns waved by drunken men they puke without warning in whatever direction they might be facing. you can't walk by and look up at the blossoms unless you don't mind stepping in vomit.

it's a far cry from the tourist books featuring beautiful young couples in kimonos eating sashimi and sipping sake. so as i said, we've been enjoying the blossoms on our own terms - walks in the parks in the afternoons.