Sakura

Wow!

It's been a veeery long time since my last blog entry. That time it was still cold and I was bitching about badly insulated Japanese houses. I guess I will have a 'part 2' on that one, once humidity is going to hit the country in summer and life under the air condition becomes a normality.

This time however, it's about one of the most pleasant seasons during spring or 'haru' (春) in Japan: The Cheery Blossom or Sakura (桜) season.

The country's parks and river banks are full with cheery trees - all artificially planted. Normally, no one really spends any time looking at them. They are just trees. However, in the early spring days blossom forecasts are becoming a fix part of the weather forecasts.

Special reports and even web cams are monitoring the development of the buds on a daily basis. Once the blossoms start to bloom, maps will inform about location and the speed of the spread across the country. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
On TV, special reports will show people taking pictures of the buds and later the blossoms at every possible stage. In other words: The Japanese are completely crazy about the cheery blossoms.

Then, when they bloom, people pilgrimage to the parks and river banks to have 'Hanamis' (花見) or cheery blossom parties/picnics.

They'll do so with their company team or class members, as well as with friends and family. For companies, usually a junior is send to a park to reserve a good space for the team to sit later and celebrate. The poor guy then usually has to sit there all day, playing with his mobile phone, listening to music or sleeping - in a suit! Should the weather be nice, it's a pleasure, but it can also be very boring, I guess. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDuring
During the picnic, everyone will be sitting on blue plastic foil to eat and drink the things they brought from home or bought at the combinis....

No one knows why the colour of these foils are all blue, but I've hardly seen any other colour. These things are quite big and can be bought at the famous 100 Yen stores for 104 yen (incl. tax). bbbbbbbbbbb
Needless to say that everyone puts off their shoes - after all this is Japan - and while this is certainly advisable, since one is in a park, it can however be a little chilly sometimes, as usually the air is still fresh and generally temperatures are warm only during the day provided the sun shines. So better wear a jacket.

At the weekends or just at the high time of the Sakura, the parks can be quite busy....actually, no, they are PACKED with people. Absolutely amazing! One is therefore well advised to have some people get some space early in the day to make sure one has a spot at all - ideally under a tree of course..

Once the night falls people keep sitting around or start to move to other parts of the sometime big parks, like Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. In the big ones they might have DJs and other concerts. It's indeed a big happening. Later people would normally go to an 'after-party' somewhere around town with friends to end the day..

While having attended Hanamis before, this time was pretty 'intense'. I think i attended about six different ones.

The question is of course, why are people here so crazy about the blooming of a tree that would - just by they way - never bear any fruit. They are only there for this one thing - to be admired and enjoyed. But why?

It appears, that the Cheery Blossom is a kind of symbol for life/youth. As time passes quickly, one is reminded to cherish (cherrysh? ;-) the time one is given and enjoy the beautiful moments. Kind of a Japanese version of 'cease the day', I figure.

As the Cheery Blossom come back every year, they are also a symbol of hope, that in the new year or - more generally - in the future, there will be a beautiful time again... So let's hope for that!

(N)onsen(s)

It's cold, isn't it?

What does one do against it? Well, there are of course the various ecological (3 jumpers on top of each other and hand-knitted socks from your (Swedish??) grandma) and not so ecological (heating up to the max) options that we can apply at home.

In addition, there are places like the office (and endless fights with your colleagues or the 'facility manager' regarding "too warm" or "too cold") or the gym (skip the machines and go straight into the steam bath) or - for people in beautiful Switzerland - skiing on 3000m in bright sunshine (ok, it's cold there, but on a sunny day you won't freeze, unless your skiing sucks ;-).

Here in Japan, however, people contribute massively to global warming, as their houses are generally badly insulated and most houses have no central heating system. That's mostly because during 9 or 10 months out of 12 in a year (provided you don't live in Hokkaido - 北海土）it's actually not really cold. Quite the opposite, especially in summer.

Consequently, most houses are equipped with air condition systems that also can produce some warm air, or gas ovens. Alternatively, mobile electric heaters or carpets, as well as little gas stoves are popular.

As windows generally haven't got double glassing and walls in many cases are almost paper thin (compared to good old German or Swiss massive house building traditions) people send their gas or electricity bills soaring and the 'green bill' off the cliff.

Side note: To save parts of the ailing Japanese economy (and the planet), the Diet should pass a bill forcing everyone to replace their windows with double glassing and properly insulate their houses/buildings. (I was always wondering why my main door is made of metal - naturally it would just pass all possible warmth in my place through to the outside).

In Germany for instance (where people are mad about being ecologically friendly), this has been started (and continues so) ages ago...

Well, but let's move away from this debate and consider a more pleasant option one can make use of in freezing Japan: The Onsen (温泉).

Now, unlike a Sento (銭湯), i.e. a regular public bath that conventionally heats up the water provided, an Onsen would have its water from a natural spring. That water is usually quite hot, as - you might remember - Japan is a volcanic island. Furthermore, the water would contain all kinds of things (like sulfur) you'd normally not consider for your regular water. ;-)

In the case of Onsens however, it's considered extremely healthy; and since these facilities have been around for a very long time and (near Nagano) even the local monkeys enjoy it, I'm sure it IS actually really good for your body (and your mind).

Luckily, I recently had the pleasure to visit one of those Onsens together with my fellow classmates and some of the teachers. Unlike the one I know from Kobe (where the Onsen is actually located in the middle of the city in an eight storey building), this Onsen is in the middle of the Japanese-mountain-country-side.

Fantastic!

One leaves the madness of a 30 million people metropolis and finds oneself in a 30 people staffed Onsen-Hotel to seek (and find!) tranquility, warmth and health...

The place I've been to is called Manza (万座) Onsen - a real pearl among the Japanese Onsens. The place has been run and developed over many decades and is managed by the very gentle Ono-san (大野さん) and his family.

Now, not only has this Onsen hot springs with different water specifics and temperatures. One can also enjoy these 24/7. - No joke. You wake up at 4am and can't fall asleep again? No problem. Just get up, go downstairs and sit in one of the wooden tubs/pools for as long as you want. If you haven't fallen asleep in the tub (and drowned) you'll certainly fall asleep after that treatment in no time.

They also provide wooden pools outside, i.e. open air. And let me assure you there are only a few things better than sitting in hot Onsen water at 2am in the morning, heaps of snow around you and millions of stars above you to glance at...

On the way back and forth you'd be wearing a Yukata (浴衣) like I and my friends did, sometimes casually stopping by the green tea dispenser.



But it doesn't stop there. The Onsen has also a mountain next to it, which is just waiting for skiers and snowboarders to make use of. In summer, this place must be a paradise for everyone who likes hiking.

We also visited Kusatsu (草津), a sometimes suspiciously German looking town in the middle of the mountains there. Main feature is a huge well area in the middle of town, where every minute 5,000 liters of 70°C water are gushed out, making it Japan's largest.

They also have a very beautiful shrine that is supposed to protect the travellers from and to the town and spa.

Well, what could possibly happen then? :-)


With this I let you go back to your (hopefully) warm places in this (hopefully not too) frosty winter...