I’m realizing, with the blossoming of the cherry trees in Ashland, Oregon this year, just how many different varieties of cherry trees there are and how the ones in Oregon aren’t much like the ones in Japan (pictured above). For starters, most in Japan have white blossoms. Most in the USA, or in my part of Oregon anyway, are pink. Even the ones in the USA that have been around for decades look like they could have been planted just a few years ago, while those in Japan all seem larger and more ancient.

How are the cherry blossoms where you are?

Posted on April 2nd, 2011 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, kandagawa, sakura, Tokyo. Comments: 1

Another time-machine photo, courtesy of Nikko Edo Wonderland… These guys were in a comical play of sorts. They were using an old Edo dialectic, which I’m sure was very funny for the Japanese in attendance. However, it made it very difficult for me to understand much.

Posted on April 1st, 2011 under Japan. Tags: edo wonderland, people. Comments: 1

It’s finally opening day, and I’ve got just three words for you.

Let’s Go A’s!

Godzilla is going to lead my fantasy baseball team (and the Oakland A’s) to victory this year.

Posted on March 31st, 2011 under Japan. Tags: baseball, signs. Comments Off on Hideki Matsui

These spider monkeys can be found in the Edogawa-Ku Nature Zoo (江戸川区自然動物園) in Gyosen Park (行船公園) in Tokyo. I’m sharing them with you today simply because they were my random desktop background. They are kind of cool looking though.

Posted on March 30th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: gyosen park, living things, Tokyo. Comments Off on Spider Monkeys (クモザル) in Tokyo

The cherry blossoms have officially opened in Tokyo. I long to be there, but it’s not going to happen this year. I walked along the Kanda River nearly every night during sakura season last year. The massive cherry trees bent over the river and the lanterns lit them ever so sweetly. Notice the signs posted every few feet on the fence along the river. On them were written haiku by neighbors about sakura, the Kanda River, or both. Some of the poems were beautiful. Others were funny. This one was sad.

It says “桜見ず、パソコンながめ、勤務中” and was written by someone who calls himself 05パパ. Dad5’s poem reads, “Without viewing the cherry blossoms, I stare at my computer, in the middle of work.” I hope Dad5 is able to get out and see the cherry blossoms this year.

Posted on March 29th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, kandagawa, lanterns, night photography, sakura, signs. Comments Off on Sakura haiku (桜俳句)