Hanami Picnic

The weather in our area is beautiful. Most everywhere you can see flowers in bloom or starting to open. The most spectacular is the half kilometer, cherry tree lined street a short distance from our house.

It's one of the top three "hanami" areas in the city and never fails to produce a stunning display of blossoms.

Yesterday we had a great family picnic under the blossoms. Ronan attracted a lot of attention because there aren't so many western children in our area. Everyone stopped to comment on the little baby and how he seemed to be enjoying the cherry blossoms.

I picked up some of the petals and hope to press them in his baby book.

The weather was perfect and the blossoms are in full bloom; we couldn't have had a more perfect day.

Our 9th Anniversary

Nine years ago Todd and I decided to take a year off from our respective jobs and take off to live in Japan. We still haven't left. I often forget the exact date we came, I think it was the 23rd of March, but I am reminded every year by the coming of the cherry blossoms.

In my opinion the cherry blossoms are the best time of year solely because they herald the end of winter. Definitely May has better weather and the autumn has better food but something "tokubetsu" happens when the first blossoms appear.

For those with the time and inclination here is a forecast of blossom dates. It looks like the festivities will start this weekend.

Cherry Blossom Time In My City

Although the cherry blossoms lasted a paltry weekend this year before being pelted to the ground by heavy rain, lightening and in one case a not too shabby earthquake we did manage to get some great shots around Utsunomiya of the beautiful annual event.

Being an ex-pat has a lot of ups and downs but this time of year always makes it seem like a gift.

Well Hanami Is Over

The cherry blossoms have finally fallen off the trees. I personally find this time a little sad. I know I know, fresh start, spring has begun etc...

Really, though, when they are in full bloom it reminds me of an Akira Kurosawa film I saw when I was 17. I believe it was Dreams. There was one scene it was fantastic with all these beautiful kimono clad women walking under beautiful mankai (full bloom) cherry trees. Leaves fluttering down like pink snow.

Great Marketing Info

Anybody in business needs to do marketing and if you are online you need to learn about web marketing. I have signed up for an excellent marketing newsletter Marketing Profs. It really has a lot of good web marketing info, research and ideas. I can always find some good nugget improve my blog or website.