Asakusa Random - Tour Guides and Whippets

To say that dogs are pampered in Japan would be like saying that the Pope is Catholic. This fashionable whippet was perched on a railing beside the Sumida River, admiring the last of the cherry blossoms no doubt, when we happened upon him during our recent pilgrimage. His master must have positioned him there before retiring to a nearby bench because there is no other way this little dog could have scaled that railing.

We also ran into a clutch of nursing home residents who didn't seem all that enamored with either the cherry blossoms or the sunshine, or me for that matter, but the sight of them struck a familiar chord, one that hasn't been plucked since we laid my mother to rest. There don't seem to be nearly as many nursing homes here as there are in the United States. From eavesdropping on my friends' conversations, I have the impression they are a relatively recent development in this part of the world.

These beautiful young ladies were clustered near Asakusa Shrine. Shinagawa-san told me they are bus tour guides-in-training. The school year ended last month and these girls are standing on the threshold of the real world. Maybe the Smithsonian Institution should institute uniforms for docents. One of those jaunty red scarves might have motivated me to lead perkier tours of the Postal Museum back in the day.

And that, dear friends, concludes the cherry blossom season for this year. On to wisteria and azalea!

Four Ideas for Celebrating Cherry Blossom Season Next Year

This is my final - or, gosh, maybe second to last - post about cherry blossoms for this year because I really need to get on with my life and I know you're anxious to hear about the Oedo Antique Market, the Recycled Kimono Sale, and how the Ancient Mariner survived four days of being bossed around Tokyo before fleeing to South Korea where he hopes to catch up on sleep during those interminable meetings where even the most innocuous comments must be repeated by a translator. 

Next spring will be my last chance to experience hanami in Japan. Instead of just wandering around with a camera as is my habit, maybe I will "go native" and approach the season from a new angle.

A cherry blossom scavenger hunt might be fun. I could try to track down all the different varieties of cherry trees pictured on the signboards scattered around the parks.

These two women are chanting in unison. Isshii-san tells me her father teaches this traditional Japanese . . . I am desperately searching for a noun here . . . art? sport? thing? entertainment? . . . at a local community center. Surely we can work up a charming little routine by next April.

Surely the easiest way to enjoy the sakura would be to invest in a ground tarp and a few bottles of sake like these men I saw at Mitsuike Park. Isn't it adorable that they doffed their shoes before stepping on that mat? Their mothers and wives trained them well.

Or maybe I should invest in a wooden flute like the only other gaijin I spotted among the thousands of cherry blossom celebrants in Yokohama on April 10. He was one of three flautists scattered around the park that day but the only one referring to sheet music. The others were either playing from memory or extemporaneously.

Frankly, I was a little embarrassed for the guy and found myself hoping he was German or French or Australian or any nationality other than American. I have a hunch he is what Dr. T would call a henna gaijin which roughly translates to "strange foreigner". (To put this in context, Dr. T was warning me that people were going to start calling me a henna gaijin if I didn't get a grip on myself.)

According to my subsequent research, henna gaijin creep out the Japanese by acting too Japanese, even though they blatantly look like foreigners. Henna gaijin can speak Japanese (no), use chopsticks (yes), eat natto with relish (not if it was the last food on earth), know more about Buddhism and garden landscaping than most Japanese people (maybe), and even use the elevators correctly (okay, lately I've been hitting that 'close door' button the second I step inside).

Upon reflection, the tarp and sake is probably the best option.

A Tale of Two Visits: Isshii Explains It All, Including Soy Sauce Fermentation

The Radiation Rebels took about a hundred pictures on the grounds of the "shrine" they discovered just inside the main entrance to Yokohama's Mitsuike Park when they went there to view cherry blossoms on April 7.

"Check out these totem poles! I don't think I've ever seen totem poles outside a shrine before." "Me neither. How interesting."

"These statues flanking the entrance are quite unique," noted Flat Dylan.

We could not resist entering the "shrine" compound. The entrance gate framed a lovely view of the blossoming cherry trees. We crossed a large courtyard of fine gravel to check out the octagonal gazebo in the center of a long, narrow garden that meandered along the compound's right wall. We inspected rows of pots arranged against the back wall, glanced at a few rather stark outdoor sculptures, and gave a passing nod to the wooden building on our right as we moseyed back through the entrance to see what else Mitsuike Park had to offer.

Four days later I retraced my steps, this time with Isshii-san in tow. She quickly set the record straight. "This is not a shrine! This is an example of a traditional Korean home."

There's a lot to be said for exploring museums and historical sites with someone who can actually read and translate all those intriguing little signs. Take those pots. It turns out they were used for food storage by a typical Korean family of an unknown era. Unknown to me, that is, since I'm pretty sure Isshii-san tossed a few dates around while I was busy trying to digest all the other interesting information she was sharing, like the fact that soy sauce requires a seven-year fermentation period so seven of those pots would have contained soy sauce at various stages of fermentation.

We doffed our shoes to enter the traditional Korean house. There is quite an art to this shoe-doffing procedure. Longtime readers might recall College Boy chastising his father for letting a shoe-clad foot touch a temple step on New Year's Eve. He would have cringed to see his mother wobble between her sock foot on the elevated floor and her shoe foot on the entry stone. To avoid falling flat on her face, she instinctively pulled that shoe foot level with that sock foot and broke a cultural taboo. Whoops! Sumimasen! Gomen nasai! Whichever works, that's what I meant to impart to all those nimbler tourists.  At least I didn't knock over one of those pretty screens.  This time.

The beautiful floor tainted by a gaijin's shoe

The bed used in summer months

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
- Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

Celebrating Hanami with Ishii-san at Mitsuike Park

Ishii had never visited Mitsuike Park before I dragged her there to see cherry blossoms on the second Sunday in April. Our trip was much smoother than the one I took with the Radiation Rebels a few days earlier because Ishii knew we did not have to change train lines in Yokohama to reach Tsurumi.  We just hopped off the Keikyu express train in Yokohama, stayed put on the platform for two or three minutes, then jumped on the first local train that pulled up to the platform.

Also -- and please don't mention this to Weather or Sunshine -- Ishii knows how to get around on buses so we completely avoided that hour-long mountain trek.  We forked over 210 yen for a ten-minute bus ride that put us within two blocks of one of the park entrances.  Heh, heh.  

The park entrance nearest the bus stop

We feasted on our eyes on cherry blossoms while one of us nibbled on bread we'd picked up at the bakery in the Keikyu Tsurumi station. The other one of us wolfed down an egg salad sandwich and a loaf of banana bread large enough to feed a Japanese family of four for three days. You can figure out for yourself which one of us did which.

Our hanami adventure was truncated to slightly over four hours because I had a hair appointment and Ishii wanted to cast her vote before the polls closed (of course I am now enamored with the concept of Sunday elections). But Ishii whipped out a map showing a recommended three-hour hike that cuts across Mitsuike Park and we agreed we'll need to take that hike in the near future. We also agreed that we'll need to tack another two hours onto the estimated timeframe because one of us tends to stop abruptly to ask questions and take pictures. I'll let you figure out which one that is.

Experiencing Sakura Fubuki in a Shonan Home

The Ancient Mariner and I are heading up to Tokyo this afternoon to spend three nights at the New Sanno Hotel and then he'll be leaving Japan again for at least a week. One of the few good things to come out of this earthquake/tsunami/radiation mess so far is that some of those embassy and military families that booked Easter Weekend rooms a year ago remembered to cancel their reservations before they left in the wake of the disaster. Another good thing, thanks to all those cancellations, is that the hotel is offering a 25 percent discount right now.

We plan to spend the weekend re-charging our batteries, checking out a museum or two, and gazing fondly at our Kindle screens (he's finally started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tatto). I hope to post the rest of my cherry blossom memories before the weekend winds down. There are quite a few still in the queue.  This is one of them:

Misa wanted us to see her two cherry trees when they were in full blossom but by the time we were able to coordinate our calendars tiny leaves were emerging to flick those blossoms into any halfway decent breeze that happened to float through her yard.  That was okay by me.  Is there anything more pleasant than sitting in a garden on a sunny spring day with cherry blossoms raining on your head and shoulders?  They call this phenomenon of drifting blossoms sakura fubuki. 

Mineko, Misa, and Toyoko

Another special treat for me was meeting Misa's nephew who stopped by to fetch something or other from the little house on the side of the property where Misa's mother-in-law lived until she passed away. Like several of my Japanese friends, Misa spent most of her married life in the immediate vicinity of her husband's parents. It seems to work out fairly well for all concerned. Maybe not so much at first, but eventually.

Cherry Blossom Tea

Misa served us lunch but first she served tea and cookies. The cookies were from Germany via Osaka. They were so tasty I took a picture of the box so I'll buy the right ones the next time the Ancient Mariner and I visit Osaka. They were so tasty Mineko and I sauntered back over to the coffee table and surreptiously polished them off after partaking of a hearty lunch of four kinds of bread, three types of meat, two platters of fresh vegetables, three varieties of cheese, and fresh fruit.

How do these Japanese ladies manage to stay so slim into their sixties and seventies? Perhaps by inviting American ladies to eat all their cookies.

Hanami at Mitsuike Park

Mitsuike Park is located in Yokohama's Tsurumi Ward. It's about a forty-minute walk from the Tsurimi JR station if you turn left rather than right at the top of the first mountain range.  But if Bossy Pied Piper is holding the map, you can count on spending at least an hour wandering over hill and dale.

Four kind strangers merit thanks for steering us in the right direction:  an elderly gentleman walking his dog, a perky young lady out for a stroll, and two middle-aged ladies who let us follow them.  While Bossy might have trouble reading a map now and then, she has a good eye for picking out polite and helpful Japanese citizens.  This is probably because every Japanese citizen is polite and helpful.

Weather and Sunshine never, ever complain when I march them three miles in the wrong direction.  This time their reward was a stop at Takano Fruit Parlor for chocolate parfaits on the way back to Yokosuka.  My children should take note of this "Never Complain = Chocolate Parfait" scenario.



The park has three entrances. I'm fairly certain we approached the park from the west but I'm not willing to swear this on a stack of Bibles since Japanese maps are not always oriented with north at the top. The park is located in a valley and I know for certain that we entered from above. Those nice middle-aged ladies pointed us toward the upper path and then hightailed it down steep steps to the lower level, leaving us to our own devices. We took their advice.

When I returned to the park with Ishii-san three days later, I learned two things: Mitsuike means "three ponds" and a ten-minute bus ride from the train station to the park costs 210 yen. The ponds are girded with paths and there are lots of other paths at higher elevations.  The park is enormous. 

A view from a lower path

The hanami crowd on Thursday was about one-tenth the size of the Sunday crowd and tended toward artists, photographers, and dog-walkers.  Weather and Sunshine took hundreds of pictures of cherry blossoms.  Bossy took hundreds of pictures of artists, photographers, and dog-walkers. 

A professional photo shoot under a weeping cherry tree

My favorite photographer

Counting Down to Sakura Fubuki

Pardon me for keeping you hanging. Those cherry blossoms in seemingly infinite varieties have been occupying my days and getting to the last page of A Girl in a Blue Dress before the Japanese Book Club meets tomorrow has occupied my evenings.

Tomorrow or the next day I'll start sorting the scores of photographs Weather Explorer and I snapped at Mitsuike Park last Thursday.  Mitsuike Park was one of Yokohama's best kept secrets until I saw it mentioned on a cherry blossom website a few weeks back.  The helpful clerks at the tourist information center in Yokohama Station were speechless when we poked our heads in the door in search of directions to the park but they rallied and came up with a Japanese map that gave us a vague idea of how to get there.  Prepare yourself for a long story; I was so smitten with the park that I went back three days later with Ishii-san in tow.

There's little chance I'll get all my favorite cherry blossom pictures posted before sakura fubuki time. That's the Japanese expression for "cherry blossom storm" when the petals cascade from the trees with every gentle puff of wind.

As a bit of respite for your eyes before I barrage you with more pink, pink, pink, here are two more pictures I admired at the Sogenkai Exhibit last week.

The Ancient Mariner puttered into port Monday in time to experience a few significant aftershocks. He's admired the new kitchen faucet and refrigerator and is starting to wonder when I plan to replace the owner's manual in the latter with something edible. Hopefully I'll get around to that before he vanishes over the horizon again less than two weeks from now.

Hanami at Tadodai House

Returning to the scene of the crime, an expression familiar to mystery fans, is just what Weather Explorer and I did Friday morning. Except Weather Explorer was not guilty of any crime the last time we visited Tadodai House to view cherry blossoms. The party who imbibed three tall glasses of hot sake on a chilly spring evening in 2010 was me.

This year we experienced hanami in the morning, the weather was much more obliging, and the hot sake was noticeably missing. The only similarity between this year and last, in fact, was the Ancient Mariner's absence.  He has the misfortune to spend the loveliest part of the year floating around the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan aboard the USS Blue Ridge. But rumor has it that he'll be back in two days to catch the tail end of this year's cherry blossoms. Be still my heart.

Hiroko, Yoko, Hisayo, Weather, Tomoko, Yuuko

Just when I was thinking life doesn't get any better than this, a group of preschoolers marched around the corner of the Tadodai House and life quickly got better than this. Their teachers lined them up under the spreading branches of a cherry tree for class pictures. The five-year olds wore blue hats, the four-year olds were in yellow, and the littlest cuties -- the three-year olds -- sported green caps.

Weather and Bossy entertain the adorable little moppets

Weather and I were expecting to head for a local restaurant with our friends after we'd had our fill of cherry blossoms. Much to our surprise, they marched us out the gate and up the next driveway to the home of the Yokosuka District Commandant of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force where Takashima-san hosted a lovely and bountiful luncheon for about a dozen current and former JAW members.

I tasted food I've never tried before -- mochi, a Korean casserole with radishes so large I thought they were potatoes, and a delicious salmon salad with cabbage and corn -- and was seated next to a very sweet lady who shares my love of books. She is the first person I've met who's read the Japanese thriller Out besides my sister and me. Simply having that book in common made me feel like I'd known her for several years rather than just an hour.

What a blessing it is to have such hospitable friends.

Hanami at Ueno Park: A Happy and Carefree Crowd

The Wednesday afternoon hanami crowd at Ueno Park was wonderfully boisterous. We saw so many interesting and happy people strolling under a cherry blossom canopy, and even more people had pitched blankets on the cement verges. Definitely the place to be for the sake and whisky crowd. The Radiation Rebels headed back to Yokosuka before the sun went down but next spring I think we ought to bring blankets and sake and see what the blossoms look like when all those festive lanterns are lit.

Cherry blossom canopy

We paused near the park entrance to hear this quartet perform what we think was a selection from an Italian opera. The young man taking a bow has an amazing voice and was wearing perfectly round black glasses that made him look like a cross between Waldo and Harry Potter (the book rather than movie version).

This is Sunshine's first spring in Japan. She was not going pass up an opportunity to pose with a wrestler-in-training.

Photo credit today belongs to Weather who graciously shared all her Ueno Park pictures after my camera battery expired halfway across Shinjuku Gyoen. She let me take this picture with her fancy camera.

The picnic crowd on the verge, literally and figuratively perhaps

Two cats snoozing in a cherry tree

A young family exiting the Science Museum

Cherry Blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on the west side of Tokyo was a happening place on the most beautiful day I've seen since last spring.  There are 1.500 cherry trees of 75 different species scattered around the 150-acre park which was originally the estate of powerful feudal lords.

Hanami is the Japanese word for "enjoying the flowers" and, when it comes to plum blossoms and cherry blossoms, hanami is something of an art form.  Couples young and old, groups of students, and families spread blankets under the low-hanging branches and feast their eyes on the flowers while feasting their taste buds on a bento lunch.
 

Since we didn't think to bring a blanket or pack a lunch, we wandered around the garden for a few hours and then took the subway to Roppongi where we had pizza and pasta at Midtown Tower before continuing on to Ueno Park.