As mentioned in my previous blog, we missed seeing the cherry blossoms (sakura) in Kyoto when my mom was visiting. Unfortunately she left before seeing more than one tree in bloom, and I figured they would come out right after she left. Well, it turns out that she would have had to be here awhile because they didn't happen until the end of April! Tokyo was aflutter with pink and white petals the first two weeks of the month, but up in Fukushima prefecture we had a freak snowstorm at the time. No flowers here. 

Eventually it warmed up and the buds started to loosen up around April 23rd. I know this sounds like flower information overkill but you have to understand that this is a BIG deal in Japan. I heard about the importance of sakura here but I never fully appreciated it until now. Living in Japan is great and they have lots of pretty and colorful flowers planted in the front of each house and storefront. The parks let little streams meander past the walkways, hillsides are green, and in autumn the rice paddies wave their rice stalks back and forth like the ocean waves.

Then there’s winter. A cold, iced-over wasteland for three solid months. Nothing but clouds and snow, snow and clouds, cold, unheated schools and layers of clothing taking up space in the washing machine. Though snow-covered trees are lovely, everyone is ready for change by spring time.

Speaking of change, the blossoms come at a convenient time of year: the start of a new school year. Everyone changes grades in April so it’s kind of symbolic in that respect. Oh, and by the way, if you work in the school system your job is completely changeable whether you’re an elementary special ed teacher or a principle of a high school. Anyone anywhere can be reassigned by the Board of Education….and they are. We start the new year having no idea if the classroom teachers we worked with last year will be the same or not. The funny thing is that the teachers don’t know if they’re moving either! All of a sudden they get put in a different school with different kids, different grades, and they are expected to perform. Many people move their families with the change of a job that crosses a long distance.

Imagine these changes and consider the sakura, five-petals and perfectly beautiful. Large blooms in bunches at the ends of branches make up the consistency of the whole tree, light pink or white and one of three kinds. There are two types that are majorly different in structure: the droopy and non-droopy…at least that’s how I remember them. Even when completely bare the sakura are easy to spot as they tend to grow out instead of up. If a tree is more than 50 years old its trunk tends to become twisted and gnarly, and they’re usually planted along a river or in a prominent spot in front of a house or on a hill. They have to be planted you see, and tended to with care. Oh, by the way there are three sakura trees in Japan that are over 1000 years old and protected as national treasures. People from around the country flock to these trees and take pictures like there’s no tomorrow. They sit under sakura and have a special lunch. It’s an event called “hanami” which literally means “flower watching.” Business men go for walks in the park on their lunch break just to look at the blossoms. Stores profit by producing special obento lunches during the season if one cannot prepare their own hanami lunch. Drinking sake is also a great way to celebrate under the cherry trees as the petals gently float around and to the ground like pink snow.  

Okay, now that we understand the importance of sakura I can move on with this.

It was two days before my birthday, Thursday, and I took a walk down by the river to check on the blossoms. They’re almost there!!! The trees were looking pink even though the flowers weren’t open yet. Everyone was talking about it and Kawaai-sensei said Enchou sensei would take us to Takizakura on Saturday because it was supposed to bloom.    

Then it rained.

We didn’t see the sun for two days and Dan and I had planned a Saturday morning run to Takizakura. It’s one of the three national treasure trees in Japan, over 1000 years old and very popular. It also happens to be less than 12 kilometers from our house so we decided to run there. I generally try to do something active on my birthday as a way of gauging my overall level of health for the year. Since Enchou sensei was taking everyone to the tree by car and leaving at 6am to “beat the crowds” we told them we’d meet them there and drive back with them. I gave a change of clothes, water, and food to a friend to bring for me and Dan and I took off at 5am. I budgeted an hour and a half for the trip since we’d never been that way and I didn’t know how many hills we would encounter. It was also our first “big” run of the season and both of us are coming out of winter running hibernation.

It was very misty in the morning as we set out and I wondered if it would rain. Dan predicted it would burn off and as we ran out of town into the countryside he proved to be right. We took the back roads, passing lovely and quaint sakura trees along the way adorning the hillsides with their fresh-smelling blossoms. A larger tree of the “drooping” variety stretched out from a hill over the road where some early birds had already set up their cameras on tripods, pointed at the tree towards the East and waiting for the mist to rise to capture the perfect picture.

After a few turns we finally made it to the last junction on the way to the tree when we saw it, a line of cars stretching far beyond sight to the right and left but all going in one direction: to the tree. What joy we felt as we ran along the white line down the hill, passing cars and their idling engines completely disabled to go further except to turn around. We half expected to pass the van of Wakakusa teachers and wave as we ran past but we didn’t get that opportunity…because we were already an hour ahead of them. We arrived at the tree and took a look around to pass the time but we ended up waiting a long time for them to arrive. Stuck in traffic. That’s a WIN for running! The destination was not lacking in visitors despite the early morning hour. The mist was completely burned off by this time and revealed the majestic beauty of Takizakura nestled in the country hills. 

Its name means “waterfall cherry tree” because of its fluid-like branches in the likeness of a waterfall. Even though there were many people standing taking pictures, the crowd flowed nicely and it was very easy to photograph the tree. Above the tree on the hill were more trees, a graveyard, and a shrine. Below was a café and many vendors ready to sell you any product related to sakura: soap, saplings from the mother tree, ice cream, mochi, and who knows what else.

Like I said, we went to look at the tree etc. while waiting for our friends (and my food/water) to arrive. After our walk-about we came out by the road and realized that we were supposed to pay 300 yen to enter the area. Oops. There was a man who originally showed us the entrance but since there was an open area near him we just went in that way. Little did we know the pay station was at the official entrance and we were “sneaking in.” The guy clearly saw us go, but he probably figured we were just stupid Americans and let us pass. Of course Enchou-sensei paid our way when he got there but we felt bad for our original mistake. 

So everyone finally showed up and we spent a half hour taking hundreds of pictures of cherry blossoms. We then went to a tofu shop for some sakura-flavored tofu ice cream and tofu donuts. Super yummy!

Arriving home, I rode my bike to the dollar store for some dirt and planter and grabbed some snacks for later. It’s my birthday! I grabbed the leftover wire from Christmas wreath-making and securely strapped the small planter to my balcony. Now my morning glorys can grow without fear of falling to their death in a wind storm. It’s my first time to plant anything from a seed with reasonable hope I won’t kill it. I usually kill plants because I forget about them. Not this time!

I grabbed my snacks and everyone packed into cars to head to the top of Katasone mountain. The whole team plus Celete’s mom, Yuta, Manri, and Emi unpacked homemade goods and spread them out under the covered bench. We spread our towels and mats on the ground and soaked in the sunshine while eating our picnic lunch. Linner. Everything was so delicious! The boys pulled out their guitars and Yuta joined in on harmonica while singing Happy Birthday. Then I got a personal concert as they sang all kinds of made up birthday songs and just played whatever came to mind. It was absolutely fabulous. The atmosphere was merry and bright and everyone’s tummies were full of karage (fried chicken), strawberries, sushi, muffins, chips, onigiri, kabobs, etc. 

Emi drove me to the bottom of the mountain where I got out and walked through town to enjoy the blossoms which had burst to life on this day of my birth. I ended up meeting Jay and Eric down by the bridge and we had an impromptu hanami, drinking sake and looking at the flowers. It was so peaceful.

Later I made fruit pizza with Linsey and we all gathered at the Newhards for dessert and some Rock Band! Pretty much a perfect day with perfect weather and perfect company.

The next day was rather relaxing with more sunshine to go around. On Monday, Eric and I packed a lunch and rode our bikes out of town to the south, passing some local sakura trees and cruising down steep hills while merrily ringing our bicycle bells. We headed towards a mountain in the distance, a mountain I’d only seen from the window of an elementary school office. It has 3 black jagged peaks that call out to me, “Susie! Come and climb me!” We found a road and headed up, up, up, of course a little bushwhacking shortcut found its way into our adventure as well as two snakes that Eric almost petted accidentally. 

Loose rocks tumbling down, we scaled the outcroppings and ate our lunch at the tippy top while enjoying a 360 degree view of the valleys and mountains. I enjoyed (from a safe perch) watching Eric partake in his pastime of rolling boulders off the cliff. Boom! Crash! They fell into the chasm below and echoed monstrously. To the right of the cliffs was a granite quarry…no one was working that holiday weekend so we decided to check it out. Through observation and scientific inquiry we discovered the quarry process. It felt like a homeschool field trip. Yay for hands-on learning! The smooth cut of the stones made me want to lie there like a cat for the rest of the afternoon…but I didn’t.

Instead we rode towards home…but took a detour to the gorge! It’s a beautiful and secluded place on the river in the forest. We met the rest of the team minus two and everyone hung out on the rocks enjoying the nice weather. Rachel sat by the river to finish a letter to friend…then we heard a scream. Her letter fell into the river. It was retrieved but soaking wet. We staked out a place for a rope swing and saw yet another snake while picking up trash stranded from last year’s typhoon. We hauled huge bags of trash home on our bikes, much to the amusement of the local old ladies out sitting on a curb enjoying the evening air. A few more sakura trees later we arrived home and ended the evening drinking tea with Rachel. Yep, that’s three perfect days in a row. Happy Birthday to me! I’m happy to report my overall health is good.  

Okay, time to catch up.

Everything is a vivid blur from March through April. I remember every minute I spent in the office, writing term reports, organizing materials, and looking at maps and tourist attractions for Kyoto. My mom was coming and I had to be prepared! Of course that entailed cleaning the apartment and washing the sheets, pulling out the futon from behind my dresser and stuffing every unnecessary thing in my already crowded closet. Good thing Japanese closets are deep.

After stealing away from work at the earliest possible moment I traveled to West Tokyo on 5 trains during the rush hour, sleeping on the bullet train and sleeping while standing on the local trains. It’s quite easy when you’re packed like sardines in a can. I arrived at 9pm where I called my Japanese family to pick me up from their local station. I ate some delicious beef stew made by otoosan, then we all got in the car to pick up my mom and Takae. They came in by bus having ridden almost three hours straight from the airport. After she accosted me with a giant hug and screaming she met okaasan and they both embraced and started crying. Moms. Sheesh! Takae and I walked behind them to the car as they talked and cried to each other without really knowing what the other was saying. Yay for crossing cultural boundaries!

Of course we stayed up late eating more stew and chatting about stuff. The next morning otoosan took us on a trip to…anywhere. My mom went to a craft store to purchase some special quilting needles, then we decided to head to Yokohama Bay, my dad’s old workplace once upon a time.  It was so cool to walk around the pier; artsy ocean-inspired architecture weaved out into the water in a blue-gray tone highlighted by the dark planks underfoot. 

We spent some time walking around the waterfront park and ended up in Chinatown for dinner. I ate the most ginormous steamy nikuman known to man and it was delicious! I bought a few hanging tapestries for my future home back in America…someday. Of course I got caught in a shop that sold dried fruit and cute earrings. I won that game and bought several goods. Takae bought a flowering tea flower for my mom to watch. If you’re a tea connoisseur you’ve probably seen these tightly bundled leaf balls that magically open and spread into a mini garden when introduced to boiling water in a glass pot or cup. I’m not sure what kind it was but we drank it happily.

The next day we all went into Tokyo to watch the Seattle Mariners play the Hanshin Tigers, a Japanese team. The Mariners ended Spring Training in Arizona early and flew overseas to play a few pick-up games with two Japanese teams. Then the Oakland A’s flew into Tokyo and the M’s and A’s opened their season against each other in Japan! We didn’t see that game as it was later in the week, but we did watch the M’s get slaughtered by the Tigers. I heard from a Japanese friend that we were spotted on TV! Oh yeah! That’s ten points for being white at a Japanese baseball game.

Coming in to Funehiki late on the evening train, we unpacked and repacked for the “family trip” the next day, hosted by my employer. The entire team trekked in the vans out towards the coast, but not in the ocean. We stopped a few miles short in Hawaii. Well, not really Hawaii, but a pretty good replica of it by Japanese standards! The Hawaiians Resort is a large, mostly indoor water park and spa. The features included water slides, onsen, water pools, buffet, hotel, spa area, and a hula show. This place had been shut down for almost a year following the earthquake due to damage and being in the radiation scare zone. We were super excited to start our Spring Break off at this place…and then we found out you had to pay $2 every time you wanted to go down the slides! So we hung out in the pool and mooched a beach ball from some kids to hit around. Monkey in the middle--what a great time waster. We all watched the show together, and when they asked for volunteers I raced up on stage with all the little kids and practiced my hula hips. Oh yeah. Another win for the white girl.

After a few hours in the pool we cleaned up, ate lunch at the buffet, watched the hula girls, and packed back into the vans for part 2 of our trip: onsen. Yes please. We ended up in Bandai-atami, our frequented onsen hotel of choice. Or rather, Enchou-sensei’s favorite one in the area. Personally, it’s one of my favorites too. Despite the nice weather near the coast, we were now back in the mountains and while we sat in the outdoor onsen it started to snow! It felt so nice, the freezing air above the hot natural spring pool. We made some friends with some Japanese girls while sitting there and put on a mini concert featuring the Wakakusa ladies singing, “I’ve got peace like a river” in harmony.

That night we celebrated Janelle’s last supper by dining not in the buffet hall, but a private room with a course meal. 30 different dishes later, I was so stuffed I never wanted to eat anything ever again. I would have stopped after the 2nd round but that would have been rude. I’d love to tell you what I ate, but I’m not really sure about most of it. Of course there was some sashimi (raw fish like tuna and squid), rice, abalone, nabe, udon, shrimp (cooked and raw), vegetables cooked a hundred different ways, and many more unrecognizable items.

We spent the night and left in the morning, just in time for me to go to work in the afternoon. Wait, I thought I was supposed to be on Spring Break?! Nope. I worked for two days and my mom came to a few of my classes to meet my children. On my first official day off I took her up Mt. Katasone, the local hill with a great view at the top. We did laundry and packed our bags yet again for a great adventure.

The next morning was Kyoto: 4 hours by train from start to finish, including both local and bullet trains. We got down to Tokyo just fine and transferred onto the south line for Kyoto. It was my first time ever going to that part of the country! We didn’t even hit the first stop when a lady came by to check our tickets…which has never happened on any of my train rides.  Mine cleared, but when she looked at my mom’s rail pass we got kicked off the train! Out of all the trains in Japan, there are two that aren’t covered by the pass. Guess which one we were on….yep. So we got off at some obscure station and I did my best to negotiate directions in Japanese and explain the situation to an attendant. They pointed out the right train and we were delayed only about 20 minutes compared to our initial itinerary.

In Kyoto we met Rachel…poor Rachel had been up all night after riding the cheaper night bus down to Kyoto for 9 hours. We put our stuff in lockers at the station and got some lunch and drinks at an Irish pub down the street. I can’t tell you how many times I asked for directions in Japanese, but I’m getting pretty good at it. It took awhile to find the correct platform in the huge station, eventually arriving at …..somewhere. I can’t remember the name of the area but it’s where the bamboo forest is located. Yeah, this grove of giant bamboo trees is just chilling in the middle of Kyoto and it’s super old. There was a very friendly artist selling his postcard artwork on the sidewalk and we stopped to look…then we bought a ton of cards because they were so awesome! I have plans to matte and frame them in the states. 

You know I could give you a play-by-play, but in the interest of time I’ll just sum up.

We rode in a rickshaw, saw a bunch of temples, ate tofu donuts, got lost, saw more temples, ate yummy Thai food, made a table runner on a loom, dressed up as geishas, bought pottery, saw an awesome castle, and did a lot of walking. Our hostel was in Gion, the entertainment district, but despite the connotations it was very quiet and safe. 

We returned to Funehiki safely and spent the next two days hanging out around town and doing some local shopping. Mom practically cleaned out the store of fabric squares for her quilting and sewing projects.

On the day she was heading out to the airport there was a low-grade typhoon sweeping the nation. Great. All the trains got off schedule and Kawaai sensei got worried so she paid for a taxi to take us to Koriyama. We said goodbye and I left my brave mother to find her way home alone. No, I’m just kidding. We researched the route way beforehand and she knew the exact trains to take the whole way…including a brief stop in fabric town!

The new team members had arrived by this time so each of us took time to acclimate them to different aspects of living in Japan. April is the start of a new school year in Japan so I took several new classes at Wakakusa…that includes the tasks of learning their individual strengths, weaknesses, and names! Two classes remained the same. I also became the co-leader for the community gospel choir with Jay! I spent most of my nights organizing materials left from previous leaders as well as composing my own arrangements for the choir. I employed Travis to figure out some lyrical translations in Japanese so we can sing in both languages.

The cherry blossoms will bloom soon, marking my first and last sakura season in Japan. Because of last year’s disaster I was delayed a month in coming to Japan. The short blooming season had finished and we never saw more than one cherry tree dotted with white flowers. This year is going to be epic from what I hear. When my mom and I were in Kyoto we had hoped to see the cherry trees blossoming since the South end of the island is warmer than the North, but we were a week too early! They’re finally coming to our part of the country….here they come!!!