We did our little hanami adventure last Saturday at the famous Maruyama park here in Sapporo.
We knew it'd be a busy park since it's known as one of the better parks for cherry blossom and plum viewing... however, the packed subway train and station gave us a better idea of just how busy... and obviously, we got there and this is what we saw:
Under the assorted and sporadic cherry trees lots of people enjoy their Japanese BBQ. Lots of smoke hanging in the air... and I'm sure you can imagine how delicious it smelt!
It was mainly young people and reminded me of some Finnish celebrations like May Day and Midsummer (juhannus).
We found a spot on the outskirts but close to a big cherry tree and made camp. Kevin made onigiri (rice balls) the night before, so we had lunch and Kevin's friend brought sake that they enjoyed together. It was really nice to people watch and enjoy the action!
This group above were sitting under the tree we were admiring and cooking yakisoba on their grill. A (news) camera crew ended up coming over and interviewing them and filmed them for a while.
As with any party, there are always (uninvited) onlookers trying to get in on the celebration. ;)
After we ate and drank a little, we went on to the "festival" bit of the park and the shrine. Lots of yummy food vendors!
We found the cherry/pllum tree part of the park!
Right before we found our second spot to camp out (this time under the trees in a much better location!), Muffin fell asleep :)
The blooms were so intense. It felt like every square inch in your view was covered!
Lots of entertaining people out and about amongst the crowds. Like the bear. :)
We also saw a woman in kimono with a Japanese guitar playing and singing for groups of people.
Kevin and his friends drinking sake and laughing about catching falling petals in their cups. Apparently, it's a thing you do. The petals falling in the breeze is amazingly beautiful by the way!
We sat right under where a pink tree met a white one. ♥
What a glorious day.
Glorious experience.
Something I'll never forget. :)
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