Saturday, April 2, 2016

Hanami


Spring is one of the most beautiful times in Japan. There's always a bunch of different flowers blooming and the weather is lovely. One of the things that the Japanese most look forward to is when the cherry blossoms bloom. They bloom in a very short period of time (a few days from buds to blossoms) and are gone just as quickly. Usually there is only one good weekend of cherry blossom viewing because they are so fragile, they quickly blow away or are stripped by the spring rain. It looks like it is snowing with all the petals blowing to the ground. Every year they put out a forecast for when the blossoms will bloom. On that weekend all the Japanese go outdoors and prepare huge picnics to enjoy wherever there are trees blooming. This "flower viewing" is called Hanami here in Japan. 
We went to Nimitz park in downtown Sasebo. It was packed with people, but Eisley loves it because they have a great playground. She was having so much fun on all the slides, and worked her way up to the huge two story covered twisty slide. She is such a brave little girl! She loves being scared and getting a thrill. I have a feeling shes going to love roller coasters once she is tall enough. 


Eisley loves dogs! She tried to steal this lady's little dog.
smelling the flowers

We also took the opportunity to take some family pictures with such a beautiful backdrop. Eisley is a girl of may expressions!
We really wanted to take the time to enjoy the weather and the time together. I am sad this is our last spring in Japan so I'm trying to document it so I can look back and remember it well, Pictures don't quite do justice to these beautiful trees. They are all over the city, even popping up in the middle of forested mountainsides. Its lovely just to drive around and see them everywhere. 

1 comment:

  1. Wish the blossoms would stay until I get there..... Beautiful Pics!

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