Hanami pictures

I wrapped up a very busy two weeks so I’ve been putting off these hanami pictures.



I really enjoyed the night stroll I took with Viv and Simon in the Yasakuni Shrine area. The breeze picked up and the sakuras rained on us. It was very romantic. We could see couples walking hand in hand, plus the buzz and fuzz of the lights from the night markets cast a dreamy atmosphere on the scene.



This picture doesn’t do justice to what I saw. I hate using flash period.



I experienced a daytime hanami in Kichioji’s Inokashira Koen — 15 mintues away on the express train from Shibuya. My memories of this day were tainted by the fact that I couldn’t find the party. The meeting point was a Starbucks near the park but being the dumb gaijin that I am, I couldn’t locate it. The organiser’s phone reception was awful and I couldn’t catch what he was saying in his heavy Japanese accent. The crowds of people were so dense it was impossible to move fast or away quickly.



After two hours of searching I gave up and wandered around by myself. I took a few pictures of the sakuras and people watched. I’ve never seen so many Japanese let their hair down in one spot. When the breeze picked up and drizzled white and pink petals on everyone’s picnics, the crowd cheered, whooped and clapped. I’ve never seen this in my life and my spirits lifted despite my futile search.