Japanese springtime favorites
Happy spring family and friends. Things are looking up in the US with COVID vaccines, most of our family and friends are already vaccinated. In Japan, things are a bit slower, it looks like a trip back to the US is needed for us to get vaccinated. The past few days in Japan has been Golden Week (April 29th- May 5th- Children’s Day) a series of holidays and special time for people to visit family. Since we are in the 3rd State of Emergency, we decided to cancel our plans and do a staycation in Tokyo. Time to catch up on sleep, doing things around the house, meet up with friends and enjoy Tokyo. Here are some of my recent highlights around Japan.
Flowers and gardens are spectacular in Japan. Japan is infamous for the Sakura or Cherry Blossoms in March/ April. Sakura are beautiful and revered since they only last a moment in time. I love the phrase Ichi-go Ichi-e. Which basically means the cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment. It can be translated as “once in a lifetime” or “for this time only”. Usually this phrase is associated with the tea ceremony, but I enjoy cherishing each moment as such a special once in a lifetime moment.
After Sakura, the Azalea started to bloom in Tokyo. We visited with friends the Nezu Shrine to view the blooming Azaleas. Not only was it just stunning to see in person, but being among the hundreds of people viewing the beauty; it makes one appreciate the detail the Japanese put into their gardens, shrines, temples to make everything perfect. See for yourself the details.
Next it was the wisteria or “fuji” which describe Japanese wisteria, not to be confused with Mt. Fuji. We ventured to Tochigi prefecture with friends to take in the revered “fuji”. Wisteria symbolizes long-life and immortality and is loved by the Japanese people. We visited Ashikaga Flower Park and it was marvelous, we spent over 4 hours just in awe of all the flowers. The highlight was a magnificent 150 year old wisteria tree with a huge canopy covering a huge trellis that you walk through. If you are in Japan during the end of April, beginning of May, definitely worth a visit from Tokyo.
There are two Japanese art forms that I recently learned and really enjoyed: Kintsugi and Ikkanbari. Kintsugi, Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending with lacquer and gold was very special to me. My grandfather was a ceramicist in his free time, having a kiln and pottery wheel at home. He created such beautiful handmade creations with Japanese motif paintings and glazing. I have several pieces of his that I cherish. I hope I have the pottery/ ceramic gene from my grandfather. I must learn how to improve my pottery skills while in Japan and I want to continue to learn the art of Kintsugi, which I found very soothing to fix the broken pieces back with a creative eye.
Ikkanbari, is the art of layering washi paper and finishing it with varnish to create a strong surface. In the Best Living Japan class of ikkanbari, we decorated a fisherman basket. I am not creative, once I started to layer the washi paper with my hands in the washi glue, my creative ideas started to flow and I really enjoyed it. I am excited to continue to create some memorable items for keepsakes.
Yesterday was a nice day trip to Ibaraki prefecture with friends to see the largest bronze buddha in Japan, Ushiku Daibutsu. She was lovely standing at 120 meters tall, towering over the Statue of Liberty and the large famous buddha in Kamakura. Ibaraki was our 31st prefecture out of 47 we visited in Japan. Another nice day trip from Tokyo if you want to go to another prefecture and enjoy less crowds from bustling Tokyo. I will write more about Ibaraki soon under the 47 prefecture page.
Checkout my video of koi at Ushiku Daibutsu, they were really hungry!
We are nearing the end of another school year and getting ready for the summer. We will be back in the US and stay long enough for our vaccines and we will see what happens with the Tokyo Olympics. Stay safe and enjoy the rest of the school year! Hugs to all. 😘