sa~ku~ra.ha~na~mi.桜~花~見

you are supposed to join a few friends from JLH to saitama (埼玉) for inori kai (prayer party - christian version) at saitama stadium where most of the fukushima evacuatees stay.  you called it off past midnight because you know you will not wake up early enough to make a long journey to saitama.  you have to make a choice sometimes.  so you choose to sleep till your body wake you up naturally...

and you go up to the familiar forty second floor for your asahi gohan, your breakfast.

you choose the same thing, a familiar plate of green salad with tuna chunk and sesame sauce, a pot of english breakfast tea with honey, a glass of grapefruit juice, a soft bun and fruit of the day.

you peek out and down the window, you know you don't have to go far for sakura (cherry flowers)...

you can choose to sleep in but you cannot choose the weather as such. it's grey, windy and rainny.  you don't complain about the grey sky or rain, but you just say a little girl's prayer that the wind will not blow all the sakura away...

while it's raining, you take your time to check out the favorite sakura hanami spots in tokyo.  the choice is plentiful but the weekend is short and sakura blossom life span is short too.

so you set out when the rain stopped. first checkout the sakura just around your neighbourhood, but you will not write about that now.

you go to ueno park (上野公園), a famous place for sakura hanami (桜花見).

and you are not disappointed. not at all.

sakura is everywhere as soon as you enter the park.  you look at this pale pink and hot pink mixed cherry blossom and you are in awe...

and a patch of white sakura flowers cover the pathway and in some case even cover the view to the sky.  sakura from both left and right row of trees just stretch their branches as long as they can to huge each other...

although in reality, if you shift your camera a little lower, you see people around and abound.  but really the crowd is a lot lesser compare to previous years during the sakura viewing prime time. and this is really just the local japanese or perhaps just tokyoites.  not a sign of western tourist.

you are suppose to have a cherry blossom viewing session with your colleagues too last week, but it didn't take place at all, even if it took place, you are not part of the occasion because you were still in exile last week, this time.  what makes up a sakura hanami (桜 花見)? sakura hanami means someone, usually the junior in the rank or the newest or the youngest one will have the privilege (or not) of going to the hanami area early enough to occupy a spot.  like this young man, he has to be there really early or else the spot will be taken by someone else.  not only that he has to be there early for a spot, he also need to buy the beers, sake, special sakura hanami bento or snacks and wait. wait and wait till the group shows up to start the party.  it is really no other than a usual picnic except you do sakura hanami under the sakura trees and occasionally the sakura patels will fall in your drinks and food.  a more traditional ones will still recite poem or make poem on the spot, all in all lots of food, overflowing drinks and never ending laughter's.

of course you are not letting the opportunity goes, you bought a donburi with ikura, tamago and nori (fish roe, shredded eggs and seaweed) at the park for merely 500yen. you find a spot and you also have your sakura hanami party. while reading your book "a flower lover's guide book to tokyo" and deciding where to go next.

 you look afar at these impressive cherry blossom flowers and you give thanks...

you look up at these sakura flowers ball, you know it must be God, or else you won't even be here to see sakura.  a momentary transformation of tokyo into a beautiful place to be.  right at that very moment, you full understood the phrase "mono no aware"  (物の哀れ), that your colleague thought you few weeks ago.  about  sensitivity to things and appreciation of beauty as a state which does not last and cannot be grasped fully.

right here, at that very moment you understood it all!

in reality, you didn't carry on with your sakura hunt as much as you wish, you wanted to go to a few more parks after ueno park, but jet leg kicks in, and so you retreat home...

you took a lightly miso marinated fish out your freezer, defrost and you give it a grill in your oven, it turns out perfectly...

and inspired by your ikura donburi this afternoon at ueno park, you cooked your rice with some shredded carrot, bamboo shoot, super mini white fish, little mushroom, and add dashi to the water for the rice.  it turns out again full of aromatic and you sprinkle with black sesame and shredded shiso leaves just before serving.

so a bowl of root vegetables rice, half a grilled fish, a spring cabbage pickles and a small cup of chilled nama sake is your perfect dinner to unwind and to end the day.

tomorrow is going to be a dry day, perhaps another session of sakura hanami.  it's all depends on the plan after the sunday church service and you are going to rock harajuku once again.