Hana-mi

I've been incredibly nostalgic for Japan this past year. In June 2007, I celebrated my ten year anniversary of flying to Japan. When I was living there (June 1997-August 1999) I filmed two videos of daily life and some special events. Those videos have provided several hours of entertainment for me over the past couple of months!

In one of the videos, I filmed myself at calligraphy class (me with a roomful of 10 year olds writing the most basic Kanji with big paint brushes) and then filmed the final results of my work that day. It was the Kanji for "Hana-mi" which means Flower Viewing....and refers to the time of year when the cherry blossoms (in Japanese they are called Sakura) bloom throughout the country. Here is a photo of my Kanji from that day (the orange circles are the stamp of approval from the teacher meaning "good job". Usually it took me 20-30 attempts before receiving that honour!):


I realized the other day, that it's Hana-mi season in Japan right now! In the part of Japan where I lived (on the island of Kyushu, in a town called Saga), the cherry blossom parties usually started towards the end of March, and continued into early April (the further north you go, the later they bloom...the most northern parts of Japan celebrate in early May I believe). The reason of the season, so to speak, is to celebrate the coming of spring by gathering with family, friends and/or co-workers in the parks, under the trees, to admire the beautiful flowers......and to drink lots of alcohol....

Ha.

But seriously, the flowers are stunning so I thought I'd share some photos from this site.