Ohanami ~ Cherry Blossom Viewing Season

Takada Park is the third best place in all of Japan for night-time cherry blossom viewing, and it is right in my own back yard! People travel from all over Japan to sit under these blossoms at the start of spring~ You send someone in early to get your group a prime spot, you lay out a tarp, kompei your sake or beer, and enjoy the pleasant surroundings of the new life...all while getting completely inebriated.


Pokeman balls, these were so yummy, little dough balls baked to look like Pikachu.... kawaiiyo~
Lining the park are State Fair like games and food stalls with typical Japanes treats. What constitutes as a traditional japanese treat you ask? Well, you could get everything from grilled squid on a stick, takoyaki (which are grilled octopus balls), cotton candy, chocolate covered bananas (now this was a cool one because you play janken (paper- rock-scissors, the japanese answer to everything) with the vendor and if you won you get two- I lost), pokemon balls, okinomiyaki (a cabbage like pancake), and of course miso soup, beer, and sake.

sakura at dusk

Now it is really important that when you plan your Ohanami, or Sakura Viewing Party, that you also plan to have it on a day in which the blossoms are in full bloom. You don't want to be having your Ohanami party with crappy half open blossoms! That is JUST WRONG! Because of this phenomenon you find yourself going to a whole series of park get togetheres (that and due to extreme popularity of course) and you also get nightly news predictions of the sakura blossoming process...

if you think this is funny you should see the anime induced weather reports....

This is Takada Castle, it is in the middle of Takada Park surrounded by a lake that in the fall will be filled with blossoming lotus flowers.