Not enough! March 29, 2008

Guess what? On Saturday I also went for some sakura sightseeing! Yeah I know I’m a sakuholic! But in my defense Sakura lasts for about 2 weeks so you really have to make the most of the time you have!

So the plan was to go for some Hanami with the ladies, Minako, Ikuko and Yuka, first stop, the park near the Teien Art Museum in Shirokanedai for some picnic! Unfortunately, Ikuko was late due to a suicide on the Yamanote line! (spring suicide)

Still we were finally all together enjoying a nice picnic near the Sakura trees, the park is not really big but it has a nice family atmosphere with a lot of kids running around and most people drinking water.

Minako – Shirokanedai

We were then off to “Happo-en” it’s a popular wedding place or wedding factory actually that weekend there was 31 weddings organized (I counted!) so it’s quite interesting, everyone is really nicely dressed (great place to steal kimono pictures!) and everything is very organized, first the ceremony then the group picture, then go some place else for the newly wed picture…

The Garden is traditional Japanese kind of small but very cute! It’s a fun experience I really recommend especially if you’re curious about Japanese weddings!

http://www.happo-en.com/index.php

I thought you might be bored with Sakura pictures!

The newly wed pictuer with the sakura

Ah beautiful Kimono!

That’s a boring picture, but believe it or not this Bonzai is 500 years old!!

 

And so we were ready for our new destination for some more Hanami! We went all the way to Komagome, which is a very nice park… unfortunately the day before a TV programmed mentioned the place and so the peaceful park was absolutely packed! with a mile long queue to get in! Still we were able to enter and watch the huge Shidare-sakura tree, really beautiful… but really crowded!

Yuka Ikuko Minako and I in front of the big Sakura tree!

 

Finally Ikuko and I went to Kichijoji to Inokashira park for some night Hanami party… It was really nice though I could not fully enjoy the beauty of the park as it was quite dark and quite packed with young drinking people, still the sakura tree near the canal looked gorgeous! It was a fun evening and we were able to meet old and new friends!

night sakura… sorry that’s a bad picture!