Hanami Festival in Joetsu

For all the PNG stuff that is (and yet shall) go up, this is still a Japan blog after all, so I thought I should post something Japanese just to shake things up.

A hanami (花見) party/festival simply means "flower viewing," and flower viewing is what you do. Early April is the time to get out and engage in the time-honored tradition of looking at sakura (cherry blossoms), which aside from the chrysanthemum, are probably the most recognizable symbol of Japan, as far as flowers go. I also appreciate that there's still a country somewhere in the world where people will turn out in droves more or less solely for the purpose of looking at flowers. In many regards, Japan's general philosophy is not one that encourages one to "stop and smell the roses," and the country's ecological record leaves much to be desired. All the same, if only for this festival, all of Japan meandered outdoors to look at the cherry blossoms. And get massively drunk (but some things just don't change from event to event in this country).

The festival also brought home the fact that we were, indeed, back in Japan. Still fresh from PNG, I'd forgotten about some of the stares and not-so-whispered "gaijin" as I passed by. I confess this tainted the experience some for me- I've tried to keep a positive outlook on things, but being a mildly reviled curiosity becomes burdensome after a while. Ah, well. The flowers were pretty anyhow. Pics:

We arrived at night after a painful afternoon of navigating poorly-managed Joetsu traffic. The sakura in the park were all heavily illuminated, and were absolutely beautiful:



Lanterns could be purchased by different companies to be placed around the park. This particular lantern belongs to the "J-media karu"-(not sure what the karu is...).



One of the more imposing features of the park was this castle, of whose history I haven't a clue. However, I did appreciate the contrast between the warmish colors used for the sakura-lighting, and the chilly Night on Bald Mountain-feeling green used for the castle.



...and from a different angle.



The eaves of the castle were decorated with yet another manifestation of the ubiquitous mitsudomoe.



The park was less crowded the next day, which also happened to be Easter Sunday (復活祭: fukkatsusai, or "living again festival"). It was a rare cloudless day, and the sunlight cast the sakura in a completely different aspect:

First off, the obligatory shallow depth-of-field photograph of the blossoms themselves-



This is something of a "classic view," or so I was told, looking over the flowering trees to the mountains bordering Joetsu.



This was the aptly named Sakura Road ("sakura rodo"). People were generally strolling up and down and enjoying the flowers. Sakura's effect on the senses is mostly visual- they have only the very slightest sweet smell, and only when gathered in the numbers that you see in these photos. The visual was good enough for me, however.



Kids loved the hanami- they were running amok wielding plastic swords and wearing power ranger masks. Some were also just checking out the flowers, like this little girl:



The hanami was, in addition to everything else, a matsuri, and had all the trappings thereof. Here the local kami is being taken for a spin.



Finally, here is just a picture of the general picnicking and hanging out that was happening. There were isolated events and vendors throughout the park, but generally people were just taking it in at a leisurely pace. Most agreeable.



Alright, there was a dose of Japan. After this it's back to more PNG.