Cherry Blossoms! I love cherry blossom season! When we first got to Japan in May 2010, I was surprised to see that the cherry blossoms, or "sakura", in Japanese, were long gone. I was sure they were a spring flower, and didn't understand why they weren't there! After missing them again in 2011 due to the Big Earthquake, I SAVORED them in 2012 and 2013. I wish they were around all year long, but they come and go SO quickly. Even a rain or strong wind could damage these delicate flowers. I LOVE all things cherry blossom, except the Starbucks sakura drink, that wasn't good. But the ice cream, the souvenirs, chocolates, the sakura flavored kit-kats! Yummmy! If you ever go to Japan, please plan your trip around the Sakura, it really is SO very magical!
For Easter we went to the New Sanno Hotel for their Easter Brunch. I'm ALWAYS up for brunch, and at a fancy hotel on Easter with my BFF's? Yes please! And there were mimosas for Kate and I. You may or may not be able to tell that Lace, Heidi and KB are ALL pregnant, with GIRLS in this picture! And all due August 2013! Lotsa babies coming our way! (In FACT, congrats to Brad and KB Erickson on the birth of their precious angel, Evelyn Rose!) Can't believe she is here and we're missing it! Stupid Pacific Ocean.
Ah yes, I remember now! We went to Kevin's birthday dinner the same weekend I attended the Fertility Festival! What is a fertility festival? Whelp, it's exactly what you think it might be. Except... VERY different. It is indeed a festival to celebrate uhh... fertilization of babies. I don't have a clue how to describe this event without just laying it all out there. But that would make you blush. Trust me. It would. So I'll do my best to give you the PG version!
My girlfriends and I took a base sponsored trip on a bus that left around 5am. We drove down to Nagoya, about a 5 hour drive or so. First, we went to visit the rock that resembled uh... a woman. This is a time for the Japanese to come and pray to the fertility gods, so while we made a muck of this event, it was taken seriously by many. We, of course, did our best to be respectful, and paid our respects to the woman. We also got to walk all along a hill that was covered in beautiful plum blossoms. I've already told you how much I love sakura, but now let me tell you how much I HATE, and I mean LOATHE plum blossoms because I am SO very allergic to them, and they stick around a lot longer that sakura does. Like, runny nose, itchy eyes, sinus pressure, dry throat etc... from February-May. And so, you will see me wearing a Japanese mask in many of the pictures from today. They are beautiful and whimsical, though, aren't they?
Stupid plum blossoms.
Check out that whimsy factor, am I right?
Looking over Nagoya.
There's Kate! Of THE Kate Chapman Photography, that we couldn't walk with because she'd stop to take so many pictures!
This was a wall of sake, and a farmer selling some plants and veggies.
Me, Kate, Kallie and Lacey. What a fun group to experience this with!
The 'female' rock. The orange box is a place to put your offerings.
After we visited the woman rock, we went on to the main festival, where there was food in funny shapes, lots of foreigners (that's us), sake to cheers to, and a very entertaining and very interactive parade! Instead of a parade of floats, like we have in the states, the Japanese still carry the shrines on their shoulders. Really, somebody should get these peeps a towing hitch. They carried a woman and a man, and well, numerous.. uhh... tree trunks? (Remember, trying to keep this PG.) Ok. I give up.
Tokyo Time
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