Day in the Life of an Idiot

 
Image: Kawazuzakura Blossoms in Minamiizu, (Izu Peninsula in Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan) along the Aono River.

Obviously, I did a HeyGo last night. Eriko (and her ever-present mom) are doing a trip around Japan to follow the cherry blossoms as they open. Last night (or rather, their morning,) Eriko and her mom were in Minamiizu town, which is fairly far south (see Wikipedia map, below). Apparently, the blossoms that are open now are a very specific type, Kawazuzakura (that last part sakura, simply means cherry blossom, the 's' changes to a 'z' sound in combination, sometimes,) that were developed in that region. The link takes you to a beginner's guide to all the different kinds of cherry blossoms, but if you scroll down to early blossoming trees, it is the second one listed. 


Image: Minamiizu on the map of Japan. Yoinked from Wikipedia.

Erika is always a good tour guide. Her signal was only pixelated at one point, and, while I was a bit frustrated, I said to Shawn, "When you consider that this is happening, live, right now, halfway around the world, this is actually pretty amazing." And, really, the blip only lasted for a few minutes, tops. I will admit that, since this happened over dinner time, I did not listen to all of Erika's patter. I watched on my iPad and propped it up so Shawn could watch, too. 

In my opinion, the thing that is lovelist about the Hanami (a celebration that translates literally as "flower look") is that really, this is the point of it. To spend time sitting under a cherry tree and just look at it. People bring picnics, of course, and those can become a BIG (commercial) deal, as witnessed by this cherry themed BEER that Erika showed off--


Image: Cherry flavored beer? I hope not, probably just decorated for Hanami

--But, the whole point of it is to slow down, take a breath, sit under a tree and ADMIRE it.

Do we have holidays like that in the US? Possibly the closest we get is Thanksgiving, which, in its purest form, is a holiday about eating something yummy, but there's a bunch of other weird colonial stuff attached to it that makes it less... I dunno, just about something SIMPLE, like admiring nature. 


Image: blossom close-up


Image: Aono river with cherry trees in bloom

Anyway, with piles of snow coming down today, seeing cherry trees in bloom has been a lovely treat. 

The only thing that kind of amuses me is that Erika was explaining at one point that the plumes of white smoke we were seeing from the far bank were from sentos (hot springs,) and I suddenly wondered... does most of rural Japan smell like Yellowstone? Which is to say, like a fart?

Apparently, I am not the first to google this because the quick answer seems to be "yes, but it's a light scent." So, maybe not so surprisingly strong like in Yellowstone. I just remember when we went to Yellowstone this was the thing that NO ONE had mentioned. That the entire town of Coby and all of the park smelled like a rotten egg. I mean, it doesn't diminish the beauty? But, it was a detail I was NOT expecting, you know?

At any rate, happy Tuesday to you all.