I decided to write a journal all about the joys of Hanami (flower-viewing).

I'm really poor right now and therefore cannot go out to karaoke with friends...I'm going to go Hanami on Sunday, so to keep my sanity till then I am writing all of these crazy blogs! :D 

Today I went on a walk to Zenpukuji-kawa Park. It was absolutely beautiful! I noticed some people were doing Hanami. I decided to walk around take pics and sketch some.

Picture taken today:

20 min sketch (I had forgotten to take a pencil, so I went to a convenience store and bought a ballpoint pen D;)

(Imagine the pink foliage in the picture above...^^;)

So for all you who don't know, this is the time of year Japanese people sit under sakura trees and have picnic-like parties. Families do it, but when you become an adult you have to do it with your college group or your company. It's an extra chance for salarymen to get drunk in public. There are no laws against open containers of alcohol in public in Japan, in case you were wondering.

Because there are only a limited number of places where there are sakura, it gets pretty crowded. This is where the good 'ole system of seniority kicks in. Newbies to the group have to do "basho-tori" to ensure the group has a good, scenic place to get sloshed. "Basho-tori" is literally "getting a spot." You have to sit in the spot ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT to make absolute sure that nobody is gonna come in and invite themselves into your spot. I have experience doing this. It sounded cultural in college, so I stayed all night in a park. It was cold, it was miserable, and massive crows came out at the break of dawn, cawing the most unearthly caws while defectating everywhere from the sky. One guy brought an umbrella, just for the crow poop. 

ANYWAY crow poop aside....

If you want to come on over and see the sakura, now is the time to do it for the Tokyo area! But the sakura bloom later up north, so there's still time! What are you waiting for?! The North needs your support :D