Oshougatsu in Tsuchiura

A bit late in posting this but, I want to share my wonderful experience at one of my good friends' Kayo's family home in Tsuchiura where I was graciously welcomed to participate in their annual New Year's celebration. I was especially fortunate since I am currently reading "Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self Portrait of Small Town Japan" which was a generous souvenir given to me by Mr. Kimura on a previous visit. It's a colorful collection of stories written about Japan in the early 1900s about this very same town! I could sense some of the "Old Japan" described in the book during various experiences I had while staying there. Tsuchiura is northeast of Tokyo, a little over an hour by train, in the Ibaraki prefecture and is much more a countryside/small town feeling. It's nice to get away from busy, crowded Tokyo sometimes!


Speaking of colorful, lets get right down to the good stuff: food! As most of you can tell by now, I am hamatteru (crazy for) Japanese food, so how lucky was I? Well, since the Kimura family's business is a local shop selling unagi (broiled glazed eel) and tsukudani (various soy-glaze broiled small fish/seafood), needless to say that high-quality food is VERY important to the them! I knew that the meal would be great, but I had no idea how much so!!! In the picture above (from left to right) I was treated to hotate (scallop), shimp and vegetable tempura soba, kaki (fresh oysters), and kani (crab). And this was just for first meal! wa~oishii!


Next comes the osechiryouri (traditional New Year's foods). Every region, and probably every family, does this meal somewhat differently I have been told. The Kimuras did so much work to prepare such an incredible and sumptuous feast, I felt so grateful to be able to share in enjoying it. First (from left to right) is an overview of all the dishes, second is the "crown dish" osechi (with its assortment of raw and smoked fishes, vegetables, nuts, cheeses), third is a nimono (soysauce-based stew with mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, lotus root and konnyaku) and far right is a seafood salad with octopus, shrimp, fish eggs, and greens. Gochisousama deshita! (it was a great feast)!


These are some shots I took while there and was kind of having fun with lighting and focus. The first one is of kiyomeru (place at shrines where wash hands to purify), the next 2 showing some nice patterns on drinkware, and last one is 'yours truly' painting one eye on the daruma (good luck figure seen around new year's that will grant your wish).


Before leaving for Tokyo, Kayo gave me a tour of the family store that i mentioned earlier. Komatsuya is a very charming shop and was festively decorated for the holiday. Since Kayo is wonderful at Japanese calligraphy and art/design in general, most of the signs and advertisements for the store were created by her. In the 2 pics on the right, you can see the unagi chef preparing the eel for our delicious unajuu (broiled eel served over rice in a laquer obento box). Its very hard to do this since the eel is so soft and broiling it in this way is not at all easy. The eel is dipped 3 times in the glaze while cooking and end up as you can see on the far right. wa~ oishisouna! By far, this was the best eel I have ever eaten and I can't imagine it gets any better ^_^


Additionally, I just want to say that amidst all the INCREDIBLE food, the most enjoyable part was being fortunate enough to spend time talking with Kimura family members, including Grandpa (who is over 90 and challenged me to o-sake drinking! He won, by the way...), Mr. and Mrs. Kimura who were such great hosts and with whom I had many interesting talks, sisters Mimi and Yukiko who were so nice and made feel so welcomed, as well as cousins, uncles and aunts with whom I had so much fun talking and drinking! Kayo's Grandma, sadly, had passed a few years ago so I didn't have the chance to meet her. However, through photos and fond stories, I could tell from everyone that she was there celebrating as well : )


So, if you ever find yourself in a small town with lots of history called Tsuchiura, please drop by the Kimuara's store Komatsuya for the best unagi you will ever have! Many, many thanks to everyone again for an unforgettable traditional Oshougatsu! ^_^

Tobu World Square: Gozilla for a day...

While chatting with someone during my office xmas party, I heard about an interesting tourist attraction near Nikko called 'Tobu World Square' that features 100 of the world's most famous buildings in miniature scale, complete with little cars and teeny-tiny people. She said it is really amazing, so I went to check it out. Despite being a rather frigid day, it was worth the trip and the cold. Very cool place! I was really impressed with the amount of detail of the exhibits. I had trouble spotting copies of people and cars...every one seemed unique! What is funny about these exhibits is that without a real-size person in the photo, you almost cant tell its miniature scale (1:25). Above you can see China's great city, and to the right of that is Tokyo Station. The furthest right is a close up on a NYC steet scene, with an accident none the less!


Here is a shot showing various buildings all together. i guess it IS a small world after all (cymbal crash)! K, sorry about that. The middle shot is of St. Peter's in Rome. Look at all those tiny people! The far right is of course Egypt's Sphinx and Great Pyramid. eehhh....that one was just OK..


This one on the left might look familar, since its a spot I visited in real life in an earlier post, namely Miyajima's Itsukushima Torii. The center is a close up of a bonodori (traditional dance done in summer at matsuri during obon). In the rightmost shot, you can see the kind of small detail thes figures have..down to the obi sash on the kimono! Anyone who likes models, architecture and feeling like Gozilla for a day should check this place out if you are anywhere near Nikko.

'Tis the season to forget

Hey everybody..how is everyone's post-thanksgiving-pre christmas time going? I remember it was a very hectic time in the US with shopping and holiday to-do lists,etc. Here in Japan it is equally as busy but slightly different. Now is the season for "bounenkai" which literally means 'forget the year' and that's basically what everyone does (due to the abundance of sake at those events). Many people have more than one bounenkai to attend so it can become a somewhat wearisome event. Also there preparations for Christmas, although not with gift buying so much, but more a romantic dinner/evening planned (or least reservations at KFC! I posted about Christmas in Japan here.)

Also the fall color is at its peak this week and next week in the Tokyo area - its really nice. Since i didn't get a chance to take any pics this year, you can see some nice ones from this post.

Sorry about the 'recycling' some old posts, but I will have some new pics and stuff up before the new year and besides, recycling is a good thing! Until then, genki de ne! (be well!)

New company

Well, i bit the bullet and made a move to a new company as a contract worker, and I must say so far its been great. The new company is in Azabu Juuban which is a really nice/trendy area, although i have to ride morning packed trains now (gack!). The artists there are really skilled character animators (think Pixar-ish) and that's not so much my thing, however the environment is great since a few of the people worked on some big Hollywood movies doing CG effects and so I am gaining some great skills. It's definitely more relaxed then my previous place with a more western-style environment - kind of working and joking around too, like a lot of studios in the States. That makes the long hours much more bearable. The one owner is a great cook and she even cooks some awesome lunches/dinners for us often right there in the office!

I am having to learn Maya/Mental Ray (3dsmax/V-ray you are still my number 1 and 2!) for doing 3d lighting/rendering for these character animations, so i guess I am working as a Maya lighting artist, for now. It's really cool to work in a high-level CG environment again, especially learning the production pipeline in the same flavor as movie-style CG. What is also nice is its a very international atmosphere with a mix of Japanese, French and Americans (me) working there. Many languages are flying around over the course of a day. I am also doing some freelance work over the internet with my former company in the Philly which is really great. Overall, I think it was a really good move and so far so good. Keep ya posed : )

Hiroshima & Miyajima: Part 2 - Miyajima

Continuing from the last post, I left Hiroshima after just 2 days there and made my way to Miyajima. Miyajima (also know as Itsukushima) is about 30 minutes down the inland coast from Hiroshima. Being an island (the name literally means something like 'God Island') you need to take a ferry for the last 10 minutes of the trip. Miyajima is a world heritage site which means it deemed very important to world culture and is recogized as such (certain protections and funding I think too). Anyway, its a damn pretty place which i hope to illustrate with some photos : )


The first thing you see upon arriving is the famous torii (or gate) that is a signature of the island. When the tide is low you can walk out to it. At night when the tide comes back in, both the toori and the shrine seem to float on the water. It's really very scenic.


The other thing that is quite noticeable when arriving is that there are wild deer everywhere! Trust me, these are not your shy bambi deer either. These guys walk right up and start nibbling at you (at least they did me and even started eating my souvenirs!) It's believed that the deer are sacred and are kind of inert gods of the island. It definitely adds to the feeling of being in a not-so common place.


The Gojunoto (5 story pagoda) is another landmark and has some really cool architectural details. Something about that bright orange against all the green and blue of the island just seems appropriate for some reason...works for me. I had a pretty nice view of all this from my hotel which was a bit higher up on the mountain. I stayed at small ryokan which has tatami rooms, but this one didn't have in-room dining so i had to eat in the common eating area (geessh, terrible isnt it?!) lol. Nice place and pretty reasonable for a ryokan. Some of the food specialites of the area are momiji manjuu (sweet bean cakes in the shape of maple leaf) and fresh oysters. There is a big shopping street where all this and other souvenirs can be found. Pretty fun.

The following day I decided to do some hiking and see the other notable attraction of the island, namely Mt. Misen. There are some famous historic shrines and temples that date back to 800 A.D. that are spread out along the accent to the top of the mountain which weighs in at about 1,600 ft. /535 m. above sea level. The top can be reached by ropeway/cable car. Even with taking the cable car, getting to the top is a decent amount of hiking (at least a couple hours).


On the accent, I stopped by to see an amazing temple called Daisho-in. Daishō-in was founded by a monk named Kukai in the year 806. Kūkai was the one of the most famous monks in Japan and the founder of Shingon Buddhism. I think this might be one of the most beautiful, interesting and scenic temples i have ever visited. The steep stairway has sutras (or prayers) inscribed on cylinders embedded in the handrail that, it is said, is you touch and spin each one as you ascend, you will have very good luck.




The temple has many different styles of statues of which all blend naturally in the wooded surroundings, as well as incredibly intricate wood carvings. There was one part with miniature statues of 500 different monks, all with different facial expressions and gestures!


Very close to the summit is the Reika-do Fire Hall. This is where the monk Kukai spent 100 days in meditation and the fire he lit has been burning (no joke) for 1200 years! it was used to pilot the flame at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial that I mentioned in the last post. It was really kinda smokey in there so I just took a quick look. That's a pretty long fire, eh?


The last bit of business was to go the the very top and take a look around (anyone remember that scene in National Lampoon Vacation where Chevy Chase is looking at the Grand Canyon). Was kind of like that. Nice view, beautiful in fact, but in the end, the island is so full of beautiful views so not so earth shattering. There were lots of really cool and weird rock formations at the top. Even a small restaurant up there to chill out and have a cool drink before the long sweaty descent.

Overall it was a perfect 3 day trip for me - lots of nature, culture, things to eat and do (I'm not much of a beach lounger :P). But really, this is THE most beautiful scenic natural area I have ever seen, so its up there on my recommend list if you ever visit Japan : )

Well, back to reality : /

Hiroshima & Miyajima: Part 1 - Hiroshima

Just recently went on a trip to a part of Japan that is referred to as 'the inland sea'. This is the Chugoku region where Hiroshima and also Miyajima are located. It was a great trip and so much to tell and so many photos i decided to split up into 2 parts. This post is about Hiroshima.

Hiroshima is bustling modern city of over 1,100,000 people. Its located towards the western/central part of the main island of Honshu and is perhaps a bit more temperate than Tokyo. Hiroshima's main character consists of its waterways, shopping districts, specialty foods, old-fashioned trolleys, and of course the legacy of the atomic bomb.

The main shopping area (and has been since long ago) is called Hondori Street. Cafes, restaurants, clothing, electronics, and just about anything can be found there. Trolleys are an inexpensive and convenient way to get around (can go anywhere in the city for about 150yen) but I pretty much walked most of the time. Near Hondori is a special section called Okonomiya Village and has many different varieties of the local speciality known as Okonomiyaki. It's sometimes referred to Japanese pizza (its not at all like pizza, but the variety and creativity is similar). It's essentially a type of pancake made with egg, cabbage, soba noodles and meat (or fish). It is grilled in layers on a hot plate in front of you with okonomiyaki sauce and options that can include mayonnaise, pickled ginger and seaweed. I had mine with soba, raw scallops and octopus (yum!). Hiroshima is also famous for fresh 'kaki' (oysters).




My first stop right from the station was a famous park called 'Shukkei-en". For its rather small size, the variety of of sub-gardens make it seem much larger. Its packed with narrow winding walkways and tiny bridges, scenic views plus lots of wildlife. Its very well maintained and nice spot to just chill out and relax while seeing some great garden design.


Near the garden is Hiroshima castle. It was really interesting to see how castles are designed and the museum inside is full of info on just this. There are many swords and armor on display and a great view from the top. You get the sense how this was really a feudal town long ago.


Of course what draws the most visitors and most attention from the world is Hiroshima's legacy as the first city destroyed by an atomic bomb. I wanted to see the history for myself and learn about what happened exactly. I must say it was quite intense and very, very moving. Through audio visual materials, photos, movies, and actual relics from the time of the bomb, its almost as if you are transported back in time to the day of Aug 6th, 1945. I wont go into detail about what is on display at the museum because I feel words fail to convey the impact, so I encourage anyone who comes to Japan to visit and see for themselves the destruction that an atomic bomb can do. Reading the stories from survivors of their first hand accounts of what they saw and losing family members right before their eyes was really heartwrenching.

Brief factual history on the event: At 8:15 am, the US detonated the bomb about 500 meters above the city. It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in the explosion and its aftermath. The entire city was destroyed. Uncontrollable and wide-spread fires, people trapped under fallen buildings, and inadequate medical attention account for most of the deaths. The survivors, known as hibakusha, were subjected not only to radiation-related diseases but severe discrimination from other Japanese. Many of them died many years later due to complications from radiation.


One of the most famous buildings of course the 'genbaku domu' (atomic dome). This building was at the epicenter of the blast, directly below in fact, and since the blast at that point was mainly downward (as opposed to lateral which is what destroyed most of the city) the walls were spared and the building left standing. Its truly an eerie reminder of history and an important one. The memorial on the right side of the above photo is the Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims and contains the names of all 140,000 victims. Under the arch is a flame which, it is said, will not be extinguished until the last nuclear weapons are gone from the earth.


Featured above are the Peace Bell and also the Children's Memorial to the bomb. The glass boxes contain thousands of origami paper cranes, folded by schoolchildren across Japan in memory of bomb victim Sadako Sasaki. Dying of leukemia in 1954, she was told an old folk tale by her mom that anybody who folds over 1000 cranes will have her wish come true; she had folded a total of 1,300 cranes before her death in 1955 at the age of twelve.

Obviously it was a pretty grim day visiting and seeing all these things. But as I sat in the park after the museum, watching the children playing and running around, seeing a thriving city full of life and activity, I felt a sense of inspiration and marvel. From nothing, literally nothing, this city was completely rebuilt by the incalculable effort and spirit of the people is just a miracle, I think. I will never forget that trip.

Up next: Miyajima: island of the Gods

Koedo Kawagoe Day Trip

There is a cool little town about an hour train ride from Tokyo in the style of 'edo' period Japan and they have lots of traditonal things there. The main specialty of the area is "satsumaimo" or sweet potatoes. They have sweet potato noodles, sweet potato soft ice cream, sweet potato cakes, you name it. I liked just the baked slices of sweet potato (kind of like huge french fries). Also eel is a specialty as well as many dagashi stores. A dagashiya is like our nickel candy store that some older folks might remember. Most adults here remember them and go there to eat their favorite childhood candy or introduce their kids to them. There are not many of these stores left so its kind of an attraction.

The town is very pedestrian friendly and is nice for just strolling around and eating while sightseeing. Since there are a lot of traditonal buildings, i took a peek inside an edo-style home of a samurai of that time. Nice garden and also even had some figures showing how they must have sat around and planned attacks and stuff. Pretty cool. With the one hour and back train ride, you can do the check out the whole place in the better part of a day. I think kids really like it there. It's really a food-centered spot, so i liked it too, of course.

Picture of the day

who knew fashion could smell so good?
(i think the store was making a play on the phrase "sweet smell of success" perhaps)

Softbank update

I know, that's quite a color for a phone (vivid pink) but hey, I just make 'em! That subtle color is just one of 12 and over 300 variety of custom faceplate and inserts that you can pop in an out, depending on your mood. The 3d I am doing will be for a live event, coordinated with a fashion show. The girls will walk out with the phones, probably wearing a similarly-coordinated dress, and the video will play on the big screen behind them. The deadline is tight (as always) so I hope we can deliver a nice product. Cell phones in Japan are pretty amazing, if I haven't said that before. Here are some more custom styles below. Let you know how it all went down. Later!

Hot Hot Hot!

Man, it's hot here in summer...not so much the degrees, but the humidity is just oppressive. Well, shouganai as they say (can't do anything about it so...). That kind of summer heat that makes you tired they call natusbate. Eel is good for stamina in summer. Eel, yum!!

Tonight I went to see some Hanabi (fireworks). In Japan, they show them many times during the summer, not just once during July 4th like in the US. I must say, just like last time, fireworks here are truly spectacular. The only less than spectacular thing was there was like a billion people there, no where to stand, and the police with their megaphones the whole time, "keep moving, etc.." That was really annoying, but if I had to control a billion people, i don't know if I would be so lenient either. It was cool though.

This morning was an earthquake in Chiba prefecture, about a 5 or so on the scale. Enough to wake me out of a sound sleep at 4am. I cant seem to get used to them, even the small ones. its such a weird feeling..like, "is this the big one?" hah. Most people don't even notice them they are so common. Not for me!

Work is picking up. I am like a 3d model factory these days. I had to make like 20 or so models of various things for a music video in like 3 days. it was really tight. I posted some pics below. Next job I am working on now is for Softbank (a big cell phone carrier here). i had to make the model so that it is easily switchable to show 12 colors with 300 patterns! bit of challenge. Again just 3 days. Deadlines are much shorter than i am used to but its good practice I guess and I like modeling, so... Post some pics later...See ya!

image of the day

Probably can't tell so much from this image, but you get the idea that a morning train in Tokyo is CROWDED. This was on the way to go get my visa renewed yesterday morning. Might be one of the most crowded rides I've had yet...but everyone surprisingly takes it in stride. I guess you just get used to being squashed if you do it everyday. Glad I don't need to take morning trains! : )

Earthquake over holiday weekend

There was a rather big 'jishin' (earthquake) in the Niigata prefecture the other day that I am sure many of you know about since it was covered by the world news agencies. Although it didn't affect Tokyo, I felt 2 of the 3 shocks for sure. Its really an erie feeling, one I am not used to yet. There was a lot of damage and I think 9 people or so lost their lives. There also was a leak at the largest nuclear power plant in Japan, which is located in that area. Some water leaked into the sea and it was contained, although some talks of late reporting and covering up are circulating. This event coupled with the Typhoon that came through made it an especially hard weekend for many.

Monday was a national holiday and I went to a matsuri (festival) called 'Mitama matsuri' at Yasukuni Shrine. This is the famous shrine where Japan's war dead are buried/honored. The festival was fun and there were many delicious foods, similar to carnival foods we enjoy at that time in the states (popcorn, cotton candy, etc..). I enjoyed some takoyaki (grilled octopus skewers) and satsumaimo (sweet potato sticks) with sugar on them. The one thing i didnt care for was the 'monster show' which is akin to a freak show that we have at carnivals in the US. I didn't know I would be seeing a lady bite the head off a live snake and then drink its blood. Pretty gruesome and kind of shocking considering the venue (a very holy place in Japanese culture). I could have done without seeing that and i WON'T be posting the picture my friend took of it. One part of the event that was cool was the lighting of 1000 tiny lanterns (pic below). There was also some traditional odori (dancing) and songs. I had a good time and it was a nice break.

Hakone Trip

I recently went on a trip to a popular onsen (hot spring) resort area named Hakone.(Acutally, the place I went, Yugawara, is right next to Hakone but just a few minutes away). The area is close to the Pacific ocean and Mount Fuji and is in the Kanagawa Prefecture. It's a very mountainous area and a lot of places are only accessible by cable car. On the way, I stopped at Odawara to see Odawara Castle (shown above) and it's prized Hydrangea and Iris Gardens. It's quite an attraction featuring some very beautiful gardens and historic architecture. More photos of the gardens below (as always click on the photo to enlarge and hit 'backspace' button on keyboard or 'back' in your browser)

From there, went by bus (about a 101 switchbacks on those mountain roads, can you say 'carsick'?) to the ryokan (Japanese Inn). Ryokans are great since they have onsen on-premises (natural hotspring) and in-room dining. Its all very traditional, from the food and service to the tatami-mat rooms. You can even walk around the hotel grounds wearing yukata (light summer-style kimono for men and women). It's really a great way to go, once you've done it!

Speaking of food (probably my favorite subject-ha!), one of the best parts of course is kaiseki ryouri. Kaiseki is the Japanese equivalent of a French 5-course meal, only it's like 10 courses. All very small portions and tremendous thought goes into not only the taste, but the textures, colors, and presentaion. Each course is brought to your room separately, one by one, so it takes a few hours to complete the meal. Its a great show and for sure my favorite part. Some savory samples below...

On the way back, we stopped at another tourist attaction, Odawakuni. Its not an easy spot to reach as first you have to cross Lake Ashi by pirate boat (yes, pirate boat. I'm not kidding) and then take the Hakone Ropeway (cable car) to get to Odawakuni. Here you can see close up (and smell, trust me) active hot sulfur springs emiting from the mountain side and also sample a local favorite: kurotamago (which means black egg in japanese). The eggs are steamed for a while in the sulfurous water and from that process turn black (just on the outside). You can buy them in packs of 6, still warm, and everyone sits on some nearby rocks, sprinkles some salt that come with em and chow down. The legend goes that if you eat one, you will live another 7 years due to the health benefits. 2 will get you 14 more years and you can do the rest of the math from there (nice marketing, huh?). I thought they were awesome but i am biased since I love eggs. Anyway, it was a great trip and everything fit into a weekend believe it or not.

2007 Demo Reel (finally) uploaded

Click PLAY button to start

Just finished cutting this. please let me know of any bugs,issues, or general feedback. Requires QT 6 or higher. A higher res version (480 x 360) can be seen at my webpage.

Thanks!

Hamarikyu and Odaiba

Since being back to Japan, and having a few days before returning to work (which was much needed due to a seemingly unending jetlag), I went with a friend to national park called Hamarikyu which is along the Northern part of Tokyo bay. It's a very big park, and although apparently funding has decreased, still very clean. There are some cool things like a 300 year-old pine and a tea house where you can have some maccha (foamy, somewhat bitter green tea for ceremonies - very good!) and enjoy the view of the lake.



Since it is so close to this park, we also went to Odaiba, which is an entertainment island built in the 90s. Odaiba had amusement parks, exhibits, and has a general feel of a sea-side resort area. They also built some large offices there in hopes that it would become an economic catalyst (you can see the Fuji TV building in the pics below, the one with the 'orb' thing), however its feels more like a ghost town today. Also in the images below you can see the Rainbow Bridge (which is about 1,870 feet (570 m) long) and also a mini-replica of the Statue of Liberty (why I don't know). My favorite part was the Sony Emerging Technologies exhibit where all the cutting edge and future technologies developed by Sony are accessible in an interactive environment. There was some pretty cool stuff to play with over there if you like science.

Home for a visit

Hey y'all..just got back from a trip back home to visit with family and relax a bit. Was a really nice time. Although it was two weeks, I still didn't get to see all my friends I wanted to, but it was really great to spend time with those I did. I got to see my sister, Lois, and her family plus my Mom and Dad and some friends. The weather was just awesome, blue clear skies everyday (as you can see in some pics of Philadelphia above).

During Memorial Day, went down to the beach to spend the holdiay with my family. I was great to see everyone and I even got to man the BBQ for a while..hah. I wish I could have stayed longer, but duty calls. I did miss Japanese everyday foods (conbini, origin..) although I didn't miss work one bit! aha. I can't complain at all though..as far as Japanese vacations go, 2 weeks is an eternity, so ....

Starting to bug out ...

Seriously, looks like insects are my future for the time being. This 'lovely' creature is a the Red-veined Darter Dragonfly, the latest 3d co-star in the Toyota series I have been working on. Cute little thing, huh? I modeled him from some reference photos, like the inset picture bottom right. I think I like doing butterflies better...yuck

Sakura Spring

It's Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Time, a very important time in Japan, so I went to see what all the fuss was about. Sakura viewing, or o-hanami, might be THE most important seasonal event so most Japanese try to find a day from their busy schedules to go out and enjoy them. A common way to do o-hanami is to go to a public space with many trees, bring or own or store-bought o-bento (lunchbox), and sit under the trees picnic-style eating and maybe drinking 0-sake. Places in Tokyo range from small public spaces to large public parks, most notably Ueno, Yoyogi, or Shinjuku Park. Some of the larger parks can get very crowded and sometimes the salarymen enjoy the sake a little too much and things can get unruly, or so I've heard. I went to Iidabashi where many Sakura line the river banks. There is a cafe on the water there too, but the line was about a mile long, so I just walked along the banks and took some pics, enjoying all the activity and the spectacular flowers. I must say, I was more impressed then I had imagined. I mean, we have Cherry blossoms in the US too and I thought, "how different can it be?". All I can say is it's really amazing and has to be seen to be appreciated. Beautiful but short-lived though they are, the Japan's Sakura are a good reason alone to come for a visit here.

As with all my postings on this blog, you can click on pics for a larger view and use the BACKSPACE key on your keyboard or your browser's BACK button to return to the blog. Enjoy!