Cherry Blossoms and the Festival of the Steel Phallus

It's that time of year where the temperature starts getting warmer. And in Japan, when it gets warmer is when it's time to go out, watch the flowers bloom, and drink.

2 weeks ago, I was invited to a few hanami parties (cherry blossom viewing) where people go lay their blue tarp in the park (bought at the 100 yen store) and just eat, drink, and catch up. This ancient festival was taken from the Nara period, when the Chinese Tang dynasty had a lot of influence on Japan. (wikipedia.org). Now, it's evolved to an all out mid-afternoon drinking over food and flowers.

The pictures speak for themselves so please enjoy!

On Saturday, I went to Hanami with Joy and the Tokyo Gaijin club. They celebrated in Yoyogi park and I met a lot of other foreigners who were just as ready to dive into this Japanese tradition.

20070331 Hanami (Cherry Blossom viewing in Yoyogi Park)

On Sunday, I made a last minute decision to head to Kawasaki to attend the Festival of the Steel Phallus. This is one of the most famous festivals in Japan and my first memory of Japan watching this on the travel channel when I was back in the States. Here, the foreigners outnumbered the Japanese but it was good to see so many people. The Kanamara Matsuri was originally popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. They say that festival today is used to raise money for HIV research. (wikipedia.org) My friend Tomoko and I had a good time none the less and took our time to pray as well. :-)

20070401 Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus)

Afterwards, we went to Chidori ga fuchi, the largest moat in Tokyo to see the Cherry Blossoms there. The flowers so pretty but we had to stand in line to walk around the moat because there were so many people. Luckily for us, we inadvertently ran into the Indian embassy throwing a party. Afterwards, we hopped over to the Yasukuni shrine, the notorious one honoring the Japanese soldiers who fought in wars past.

20070401 Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing near Chidori ga fuchi)

I tried to make it to Shinjuku Gyoen (Shinjuku Park) to meet up with my other friends for Hanami party but the park closed at 4pm. So we decided to go to Korean restaurant and afterwards, drinks at Ni-chome and Karaoke afterwards. I met Saiko, who was a published recorded artist and has her own Japanese punk rock album. Karaoke is much more fun with musicians !

20070401 Karaoke after Ni-chome

Whew...it was a long weekend...but one that you cannot not do while in Japan, desho?