I wish it was spring right now

Brrrrrr. It's cold in New York today, and I've got cherry blossoms on the brain. Next up on my list of Top 10 Tokyo people/places/things I miss the most....

7. SAKURA!

For about two weeks every year, Tokyo's concrete jungle transforms, even the ugliest architecture made pretty by so many pink petals. There are celebrations in the parks, people eating and drinking under the trees 24/7, blue tarps spread out beneath blacktop and patchy grass. Ueno Park in particular draws massive crowds, even on weekdays; sakura season may be the only time of year Japanese salarymen and office ladies feel they can play hooky from work. Other hanami (literally "flower viewing") hotspots: the Nakameguro canal (a stunning display), Yoyogi park (a younger and rowdier scene), and Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (but don't even think about bringing a Frisbee - the fun police keep the lawns strictly ball-and-kite free). Even our little Octopus playground park gets busy. Here are some of my favorite pics taken during prime time (late March - early April):

 Blossoming cherry trees along Meiji dori near Shibuyabashi, April 5, 2012

 Claire in Yoyogi park, March 27, 2009

 Terry snapped this by the Nakameguro canal on April 9, 2011 (the boys and I were in New York). With the country still reeling from the 3/11 disaster, official hanami events in Tokyo were canceled and there were fewer people about. 

 

 

Conor, 8 1/2, and Dylan, nearly 7, at Koishikawa Korakuen, a walled garden near the Tokyo Dome and one of the best places for viewing cherry blossoms, April 6, 2009

Meiji-dori in Ebisu, across from our bus stop and near our old apartment

Meiji-dori in Ebisu, facing southeast. That's Ippudo (ramen!) on the left beyond the vending machines

 

At the 06 Toei bus stop, looking toward Shibuyabashi, March 27, 2008

The boys' first close encounter:  Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, March 28, 2008

A Jingumae side street we would walk down to get to school when the kids were smaller, near the Children's Hall in Shibuya

Nakameguro canal

 

When the blossoms fall away, they are replaced with lush green - this canal is such a gorgeous place, despite the surrounding architecture

 

Conor on Meiji-dori with Edmund Buddles, April 4, 2009

 Edmund and Conor on Shibuyabashi pedestrian bridge, heading for Ebisu station

Nature lover with big lens in Koishikawa Korakuen

Hanami in Yoyogi park, March 29, 2009

 Terry and Ichiro, friend from NYU biz school now living in Tokyo; Ichiro's family showed us how it's done

 

Boys were welcomed into a random ball game. Best thing about Yoyogi park: anybody can join in

park rules

Sign posted in Arisugawa park in Hiroo:

Please Do Not Brush Your Dog's hair On a Bench 

And this is because.... ?? Don't mean to quibble; I don't have a dog, and maybe the ban increases my chances of finding a place to sit whenever I think to go to this quiet and rather lovely area of the park, a clearing surrounded by woods, away from the pond and the playground, but I'd love to know the thinking behind it. What am I missing?
 
Last time the boys and I were in the park we noticed that some winter berries, purple things the size of BBs, had sprouted on some of the bushes. The elderly couple, in the background behind Dylan, above, are just sitting and admiring. I guess I can see how brushing a dog could kill the mood.

at the cemetery

A couple months ago, when there were still some autumn leaves on the trees, KT and I spent some time in Aoyama cemetery to practice some new skills we had learned from the brilliant photog Alfie Goodrich. Here are some of my favorite shots from that day.

trail walk!

A few weeks ago Terry and I took the boys to Kamakura to do the Daibutsu hiking course, a 3.5km trail that snakes southwestward beginning at the Jochiji temple near Kita-Kamakura station, and winds up and around mountains and through woods, its path gnarled by exposed tree roots; at the end of the road is the big Buddha at Kotoko-in. I'd done this trail walk before, in the spring of 2008 with a friend (and posted about it here) and then again last year with some other moms from school (though that time a few of us veered off course and ended up at the beach, ducking hawks, but never mind...) As for Terry and the boys, it was their first time. A couple of years ago the kids probably wouldn't have gotten through it without a lot of whining and feet-dragging, but they're 9 and 11 now, and so they managed, and seemed to really enjoy it, and it was really rather pleasant for all of us.


The course is not too arduous, but the terrain keeps things interesting. Lots of up and down.

It's good to walk with a big stick, I always say

one of the maps signposted along the way

At about the midpoint, we stopped for a rest in this little clearing not to far from Genjiyama-koen (a few minutes' detour, but worth it for the very impressive shogun statue, pictured below). We sat on tree stumps around a giant stone slab table, enjoying snacks and sunshine. Dylan wasn't quite sure about his rice cracker, which he selected from a plastic bin outside the little nearby shrine, leaving 100 yen in the dish beside it. It has some sort of white sugary coating on it.

Drinks all around! apple juice from the vending machine.

I purchased this stick 'o somethin' from a cart manned by two lovely old ladies who were pan-frying them in a big pot, because an old man told me to. "Healthy," he said, pointing at the, what, potatoes? mochi balls? He couldn't think what to call them, until then he did, and I googled it: konnyaku, and it is in fact a type of potato, but more glutenous. Apparently native to Indonesia, introduced in Japan in the 6th Century as a medicine. Slightly crunchy, in that root veg sort of way. Fairly bland, even sauteed in soy sauce. (The ladies had a big ole pot they were heating them in.) Apparently the stuff is high in fiber, rich in minerals, low in calories. Well, the old man was pleased that I gave it a try.

The mighty Miramoto Yoritomo, Shogun from 1192-1199, the start of the Kamakura period

Dylan takes the lead (see tiny figure way beyond the other two)

What's this?! We came across this seemingly brand-new Garden Cafe, situated just off-course, at the same moment we thought the boys were about to fake total collapse...


Quick cure: tall glasses of Coke, with big fat wedges of lemon. Coffee for me, beer in a big stein for Terry. Onward!

Final stretch

The reward at the end: the Daibutsu, cast in bronze in the mid-13th century, and originally housed inside a temple, which was washed away in the tsunami of 1498. I always enjoy seeing the big guy. (I've posted better photos of him than this... click here and scroll down.)

 
There are several clusters of Jizo statues on the grounds of the Hase-dera temple, not far down the road from the Daibutsu. Jizo, a bodhisattva (enlightened being) in Buddhism, is a protector of children, primarily those in limbo (unborn, miscarried, aborted etc. - a tad gruesome for such a merry looking fellow). These little hillside herds are totally worth checking out, and there's also a rest area with a view of the sea.


Some extra special bonsai were on display there that weekend.