SerpentZA, Culture Shock, sakura petals and more... #7Days7Minutes (2016-04-04)

One of my oldest and best friends, Winston (SerpentZA), finally made it over to Japan. It was the first time we'd met since we he left SA 10 years ago.


Music:
taken from the Sounds like an Earful "freebies" creative commons pack and the YouTube creators' library.

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Spring #RandomJapan

Not the first plum blossom of the season (actually it's one of the last) but it's the first one I shot this season, so there!

Yoyogi Park Hanami #TokyoStreets

I got a new (old) Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm f1.4 lens which I adapted to my a7S and I happened to be near Yoyogi Park with the combo at the height of the cherry blossom blooming this year.




There are a few more shots in the flickr gallery.

Japanese Spring Flowers that aren't cherry blossoms

The national obsession with the cherry blossom tends to override the fact that other flowers bloom in spring. Don't get me wrong, I like the Sakura as much as everyone else, but sometimes You'd think that they're the only flower in existence... Here are 5 that are not:

3rd on down is an Anzu (apricot) blossom. The rest... I haven't the foggiest. If you know, enlighten me with a comment!

7 Days, 7 Minutes (2014-03-31) Spring, cherry blossoms, cheerleaders and more...

00:00 notMONDAY Hanami
01:00 TUESDAY Changing of the Guard - Imperial Palace Tokyo
02:00 WEDNESDAY Spring Rain
03:00 notTHURSDAY  Akasaka Sunset
04:00 FRIDAY Heading to Nagano
05:00 SATURDAY Chikuma City - Nagano Prefecture Location: https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/%E5%8D%83%E6%9B%B2%E5%B8%82%E5%9F%8E%E5%B1%B1%E5%8F%B2%E8%B7%A1%E5%85%AC%E5%9C%92/@36.4798149,138.1399347,17z/data=!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x601d9d1cba8bfb41:0x5d9a6661095efb7b!2sChikuma,+Nagano!3b1!3m1!1s0x0:0x93bcdc8754312eaa
06:00 SUNDAY Formation Flying

Cherry Blossoms and Spring Time in Tokyo ~5 Hit Combo~

Morioka

On an off day during the volunteering trip we hit up Jodogahama. We then drove inland to Iwate’s capital city. Morioka was nothing like what I had expected it to be. In a good way.

Hanami Part 2… More pretty flowers

on the way back home from Shikishima Park last week, I decided to take the long way home in an effort to avoid traffic. We came into Shibs on the 34. At the Hydro electric plant on the dge of the city, The flowers were in bloom too. We stopped for a bit.

Hanami Part 1… Looking at the pretty flowers

In Japan, The end of winter is heralded in with a spectacular  transformation. The brown, barren branches erupt into a flurry of pink as the temperatures start to rise. Spring is upon us!

Last week, we went to Shikishima Park to take a look at them.

Sakura

So I remembered that I had a blog and decided that i need to drop some hasty updates in the next few days…

It is spring in Japan, quite possibly one of the best seasons I have ever experienced in my life, yes even better than Jozi spring and Mid Jozi winter (those who don’t appreciate how awesome our winter days in Jozi are need to go without them for a while)

The beginning of spring in the land of the rising sun is marked by the blooming of cherry blossoms or sakura.

A lot has been said and written and attributed to these flowers. All I can say is that seeing them in real life was an pretty damn awesome.

I tagged along with my new 3rd years when they went to the shrine around the corner from our school (i will find out what it is called sometime or the other) It was the perfect day, the sakura were in full bloom. Hell it was straight out of a movie.

Hanami (looking at the flowers) is one of those must do at least once before you die experiences. The weather, the flowers, the way the entrenched age old Japanese tradition manifests in a modern Japan… and the flowers are pretty too.