sakura sakura

that's right, it's the season of cherry blossom goodness. when we went to D.C. a few years ago, i thought i knew what that meant. i had absolutely no clue.

i'm devastated once again as i realize that my broken camera means i can't capture the beauty& wonder of cherry blossom season in japan. it's an entire way of life that i won't have documented. i made a friend on the train saturday morning and he told me a bunch of stuff that i never realized about this time of year. the "year" sort of begins in april [sakura season] in japan. school starts, companies do big training, etc. it's so significant to japanese culture. my new friend pointed out that in the last scene of "the last samura", he's buried under sakura. i never ever noticed. but it totally makes sense. we had a relatively long conversation about how important sakura are, and in summary he said something like "sakura are like the heart of japanese people." hmmm...

i don't think you can truly understand sakura's significance without photos, so i'll add some of ann& mandy's. view near mandy's apartment.
some of my bests! we were going for the spice-girls-do-sakura look.

...of course, sakura means hanami, which are basically the fun parties where you watch the cherry blossom trees while having a grand time with your friends...
and pose for photos with random men who shout "hello!"... and wander over to a group of genki college kids to join their singing and watch them perform magic tricks.... and pose with your cute friends for more cute photos. and eat a lot of food. and make a lot of introductions because everyone brings their friends. and their friends' friends. and their friends' friends' friends. and it's a rip roaring time. sadly, the trees will probably drop all their blossoms this week & it'll be over. but what a fab weekend*