It seems that everyone wanted to go to Yoyogi Park for hanami this year. The previous weekend, the Malaysian group met on Saturday and the IUJ group on Sunday. Last weekend it was the GAP group.
I would not have gone to Yoyogi Park at this time of the year alone if not for the hanami invitations. It was KRAZY packed, even more than the previous weekend. The main reason being that the cherry blossoms were at their peak blooming period.
Weather's been krazy lately too. Usually cherry blossoms last for a week before wilting away. This year, they seem to last over 2 weeks. In fact, I was surprised to see the flowers still beautiful and blooming in Edogawa Park this afternoon.
Spring is when everyone comes out to play. We brought racquets to play badminton at the park. As usual, every inch of Yoyogi Park is taken up either by families, musicians, dancers, students, couples with dogs, or young people wanting to exercise and enjoy the sun.
Yes, even Spidey swung by and showed us a trick or two.
With a crowd like this, it's no wonder that the lines at the public toilets snake around trees and park benches. Hyun and Tomoko walked a little further out and found a toilet where they waited for about an hour. Yuri, who had lined up at the toilet in the park earlier took more than 1.5 hour for her turn!
I've mentioned that the hanami is just an excuse for the Japanese to drink sake and get drunk. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people gathered at parks all over the country for hanami, how many percentage of that actually stand below the cherry blossom trees to have their pictures taken and actually admire the flowers?
Case in point : the group near us fed their dog sake and beer. By the time they were half done with the poor pup, its eyes had turned red and it was yelping at everyone who passed by. Clearly they were having fun abusing the dog and I almost wanted to go over and give them a piece of my mind. Unfortunately I have yet to learn how to scold in Japanese!
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