Close-ups of sakura

As I mentioned before, this year I was too lazy to take any close-ups as I already had taken so many. My Facebook friends have already seen all these, but I'll share it anyway for those who are in Facebook, so you can notice that the somei yoshino type (the most common one, 2nd photo) is not the only type. All of these were taken in Kyoto in April 2014.

I believe this is a Somei yoshino sakura.

At the Kiyomizu Temple.

Bonus: Kyoto's Kamo river is simply beautiful.

Hanami in Hitachi

After the hanami weekend in Tokyo, it was time for hanami in Hitachi on Sat April 9th as the season here is usually a bit later than in Tokyo. This year though the sakuras all over Japan were apparently ahead of the average year schedule. There are several cherry blossom forecasts (桜予想) to follow, but these forecasts usually appear quite late for tourists to have any gain of it for their trip planning. I think best guess would be being in Japan during the first days of April and actually staying a bit longer in one place to assure you are there during the full bloom. I was lucky enough to spend one month in Kyoto two years ago in April thanks to our school for reorganizing the period system and leaving me without courses during the new 5th period.

On the 9th there was a Spring festival at our work place in Hitachi. Me, Anthony, Ed, Aidan, Alan and Mathilde decided to go and see it. Also generally no photos are allowed on the company area, but today was an exception. Though I actually think the prohibition applies only to the work related stuff so I've taken photos of the trees also before when they were in the early blooming stage. This post will again contain a lot of photos so I'm only posting full bloom ones.

The day was the first really warm one in Hitachi this spring and while we were walking from the train station to the company, many of us hoped we would not chosen jeans to wear in the morning. I even got a slight sunburn...

The road to the company which the bus takes everyday.

The festival.

Entertainment for kids. That guy was the most stereotypical anime bad guy I've seen in a while, but that itself made it fun to watch haha.

Trying out the festival sake ("nihonshu" in Japanese as "sake" means alcoholic drinks in general).

Mathilde and Ed represented Europe in the "loud-voice-competition" (which also had kids as participants). Ed won and got 10,000 yen (~80 euros) worth of gift cards for shops. You were supposed to shout some phrase: Ed shouted a basketball cheer in Lithuanian and there was a guy who was leading for a while with はらへったー！ meaning "I'm hungry!". :D

After the company festival, we headed for lunch near the station and then to Hitachi-shi for some more sakura. I could only make a short stop there as I had to go for a drinking party with my yosakoi teammates in Mito. No photos from there unfortunately, but I just love how my teammates (all Japanese) love my English pronunciation haha. "Say this, say this." "Waaa, so cool!" :D

Hitachi Civic Center

Hitachi Heiwa Doori

Bonus story about sakura: Japanese people also seem to love special/limited edition stuffs, so during the sakura season you'll see season special sakura flavour drinks or some green tea bottles and beer cans getting a seasonal cover with flowers.

Cherry blossom latte

Hanami in Tokyo

During the first weekend of April I headed for Tokyo to see the sakura, cherry blossoms, as the season is slightly earlier there than in 1.5-hours-north-of-Tokyo-by-express-train Hitachi/Ibaraki.

I was in Kyoto two years ago for one month and it happened to be April. Thus I have way too many closeup photos of the cherry blossoms and I was too lazy to take any anymore. I might post some from the two years just for you to see them, but this time it's only general hanami, flower watching, photos around Tokyo.

I travelled to Tokyo as usual on Friday night after work and stayed with my lovely host family. On Saturday I planned to meet friends for having a hanami at Ueno Park, which is one of the most popular places for hanami in Tokyo. Hanami itself greatly reminds me of the Finnish May Day picnic on the first of May (Vappu). Except that we don't have the beautiful flowers. But the basic idea of having a picnic and drinking with friends is the same.

Changing trains at the Ueno station on Friday evening and I wasn't the only one.

Entering Ueno Park

Everybody has the blue sheets to mark their spot.

Some people had even prepared tables from cardboard boxes.

A lot of people (this was not the peak yet).

Thousand origami cranes (senbazuru 千羽鶴) are supposed to grant you your wish.

Chidorigafuchi

The best view from this side was blocked.

So many people.

Entering the grounds of the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

Tying a not-so-luckly omikuji.

Naka-Meguro during the night.

Our small group started to split after visiting Chidorigafuchi and in the end only me and Aidan visited Naka-Meguro, which was packed with people. The view would most likely have been better if we would have continued following the river further, but I was too tired of the crowds to even play with my camera and take decent photos.

Sunday was a rainy day so I spend it indoors with my host family. Me and Yuka, the daughter of the family who's a year older than me, took it easy and laid on the electrical carpet (it's waaaarm and so nice) while watching TV. A nice relaxing day after one a bit more tiring one. ^^

Relaxing with Kuroe, the younger one of the family's two dogs.