07 April 2011

Hanami

If you look at the kanji for hanami, 花見, it translates as flower look. And indeed, in the dictionary it says flower or cherry blossom viewing. But if a Japanese friend or colleague asks whether you did hanami, they mean "did you sit on a blue groundsheet and drink and eat and talk and laugh a lot while looking at cherry blossoms?" Indeed a much more sociable prospect than just looking at flowers.

I did however have to come to my third year here to graduate from the latter to the former. (Full disclosure: the first year I was travelling at the time, the second year there was a wedding on the same day as the main local hanami event... now it's year three.) I finally attended a proper hanami event, as organised by local businesses and goverment.

Proceeds from the event will go to Tōhoku. A charity auction of goods donated by local businesses also helped to grow the amount. And you'll see a picture of my friend MANning UP FOR JAPAN into the donation box.


A highlight of the day was when an enormous tuna was carved up, then carved some more, and then served to us along with hamachi as a wonderful sashimi treat. I went a bit nuts with pictures (and the video below!) of the carving, but hey, how often does a guy carve a tuna in an open-air setting with cherry blossoms in the background?

No comments:

Post a Comment