Flowers and Fishy Haircuts

Well, I missed blogging for the entire month of March. So much for my new-found wells of creativity, they dried up but now with the arrival of Spring I feel fresh and ready to go! At least that's the premise.. how far I'll actually get with this blog is yet to be seen, that's the beauty of a jerrymander you see, it can terminate in a fit of alzheimers at any second.

The last week and a half in Japan have been brilliant! For anyone who doesn't know what Hanami is allow me to give you a brief description. Hanami is the time of year when the many hundreds and thousands of millions of cherry blossom trees, sakura, which the Japanese are bonkers over, bloom. Suddenly you are catapulted out of horribly cold winter into balmy Spring days where people frolic, well, mostly just eat and drink really, under a canopy of pinky-white blossoms. A gentle breeze or a bird alighting after flight sends a rain of petals down on the inebriated masses below. I love Hanami. It's the time when all my bitterness at having to live in a place that actually has winter (I'm from Queensland!!), all of my culture-shock and all of dissatisfaction with my job is left behind in the constant party atmosphere.

Sakura blooms in a wave from South to North all the way up Japan. I live in a pretty Northern part, about 2 hours away from Tokyo by train, so Tokyo's Sakura blooms about a week before my local trees. I usually head down to the big city so I can get some Hanami-ing in early. This year I hung out with a good friend and on a Sunday when the blossoms were at 100% (according to the sakura report on TV) we managed to wedge our way into a crowded picnic area. Here I had the pleasure of witnessing THE WORST (or possibly best, depending on which way you look at it) MULLET IN JAPAN. One of the groups near us seemed to be the local bikie gang, there was a lot of leather, big strappy boots and scary-looking girlfriends involved but the stand out for me was a guy wearing a khaki jumpsuit with a leather utility belt that had large chains hanging from it. As if the outfit wasn't enough his hair looked like it been involved in a fight with some bleach about 6 months ago and then hacked off except for a long section starting at the base of his neck, yes, a mullet! This photo doesn't really show the full glory of it, I was a bit scared of pissing him off by obviously taking a photo of him since he was surrounded by his bikie mates, but I hope you can get the general idea.

Now, sadly, the cherry blossoms have all fallen and fresh green foliage is taking their place. I'm going to travel up north in May so hopefully there'll be some around then so I can enjoy some more Hanami time. If not, I'll have to wait until next year. If anyone has ever considered travelling to Japan I seriously recommend coming at the start of Spring so you can enjoy this lovely time. Photos really don't do it justice because the atmosphere is what is so nice. Everyone is enjoying themselves, feeling fresh lovely and free. There's that and the heavy public drinking, Kanpai!