Tokyo Heart

those pesky wrong data computers & the cherry trees

So - the cherry trees were supposed to bloom this weekend, but according to those who make the forecast "the wrong data was in the computer."  Not, "we entered the wrong data" - just that the wrong data was in.  Talk about passing the buck (or the yen in this case).  Of course, Japan never "cooerced" those women in China & other countries during WWII into sex slavery either, not according to the Prime Minister.  Cooerced in his venacular is that no one held a gun to their heads.  Never mind that it was probably a do or die situation, but they weren't cooereced....

Speaking of the cherry blossoms there are a few trees that got a jump on the spring blooming.  There's a small one near my house that decided it wasn't going to wait anymore.  Here's how some of its blossoms look:

   

Plum blossoms and mini-dump trucks

At this time of the year Japan's "ume" trees - the Japanese apricot trees - blossom in a variety of colors; pink, white; lavender. These are the first harbingers of spring and will soon be followed by the cherry blossoms. The cherry trees are expected to bloom earlier than usual this year in Tokyo because it has been such a warm winter. We'll be viewing those soon along the river that runs through the park near our home - the Zempukuji River.

We went over to Hanegi Park a couple of weeks ago & spent a couple of hours walking around viewing the ume blossoms. Here's a photo of the pink ones.

As I was walking to the train station the other day I spotted this little dump truck. I guess that it is only in Japan that you can see such a fancy little truck - this one's owner had the chrome polished to a high sheen and like most all cars in Japan - it was pretty much spotless. Car owners here do tend to keep their cars pretty clean.

Of course, with the spring weather in Japan we also get lots of cedar pollen - known as "kafun" which literally translates into flower feces - and I think there are many who would agree with that literal translation. Thousands of people are walking around wearing white masks these days to filter out the pollen, but even that doesn't stop the suffering that those who have allergies have to bear. This seems to be unique to Japan. You can see just how bad it can be at this website: http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia21/en/trend/index.html

And finally, here's a shot I took of Mt. Fuji from the golf course a week ago. It was an extremely windy day, but on the positive side, the wind made it clear enough for us to be able see Mt. Fuji which is about 30 miles away from the course.

So - till next time - happy Spring - and don't let the kafun get you down.