Season of the Bitch: Night Visitor

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Season of the Bitch: Night Visitor

By Billy W 29 March 2009 8 Comments

If you’ve lived in Japan for a few years or more, you know that Mother Nature has a real cruel streak when it comes the the land of the rising sun, especially during spring and summer. For the last couple of years, I can remember a lot of work weeks where the weather was warm and sunny only to turn ugly on the weekends. In fact, foiled weekend plans are par for the course here during the spring and summer months if you’re fond of being outdoors. And for those who suffer from hay fever and pollen allergies, Mother Nature can be a real bitch, unless you own a company that manufactures some of the facial masks Japanese people so often wear.

As for doing Ohanami (Cherry Blossom viewing) this year, much like last year, the timing of the peak of the blooming season looks to be bad. Early predicitions had the peak happening today and tomorrow (March 29th and 30th), but if you were out and about hoping to see the sakura in full bloom today, you were likely disappointed. It was sunny but not so warm today, and having had enough of doing the hanami thing in less-than-decent weather, I gave up on my plan to hit Inokashira Park in West Tokyo.

But, on a routine walk home this evening, I noticed that cherry blossom season decided to pay a timely visit to a lovely, lone tree in my Shibuya neighborhood. Well, knowing me as well as you do, you know that when I got home, I grabbed my camera and returned to capture the handiwork of our town’s night visitor.

A welcoming image while strolling through the neighborhood at night

Night Sakura close-up branch, flowers, and buds

Related: Lots of obligatory ohanami posts, but here’s one with some very nice pics by Paul

This post was submitted by Billy W

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8 Comments »

freedomwv said:

great photos there billy. Is it me or are the cherry blossoms not in as full bloom as they were last year?

[Reply]

billywest reply on March 29, 2009 4:18 pm:

Thanks, freedom.

Give the trees a few more days and they’ll be in full bloom. Hopefully, strong winds won’t blow everything away before next weekend.

[Reply]

freedomwv reply on March 31, 2009 1:13 am:

The wind this time of year is always a concern. I plan to go to yoyogi park this Thursday. I was at Ueno park last week and was a little let down.

[Reply]

# 29 March 2009 at 3:32 pm

Clement said:

I went for Ohanami viewing at the Ookayama campus of Tokyo Tech with my lab mates and our professors but I felt it was premature because the cherry blossoms were not yet in full bloom.The only consolation was that afterwards, I ate a lot of sushi at my professors house. I plan to go to Toyama park with friends next week. I am told it is a famous spot for viewing cherry blossoms.

[Reply]

# 1 April 2009 at 1:54 am

Clement said:

I meant to say next weekend.

[Reply]

# 1 April 2009 at 1:55 am

Chris B said:

I got 180-200 people hoping for mountain bloom on the 5th.
I got so much stress getting this party organized I can’t even spare the stress. I hope GOD smiles on me Sunday