A warm weekend with daytime highs over 20 degrees. The Somei-Yoshino cherry blossoms are still hanging in there, but the air around them and the ground beneath them are filled with fallen petals. Families are out on the grass in the park, eating the last sakura-mochi sweet bean rice cakes of the season, and enjoying what …
According to the traditional Japanese almanac, cherry blossoms first open on Marach 25th. In central Tokyo the average opening date, determined by a particular tree at the Yasukuni Shrine, is March 24. This year the blossoms have been a little but late, and the Tokyo opening was not announced until March 29th. Out here in …
March 30 Some of My Next Door Neighbors My condominium is situated alongside a large man-made pond, constructed as a holding reservoir to prevent runoff water from the Chiba New Town streets from flooding the downstream farming areas. The pond was constructed simply by damming a narrow valley. The rice paddies were wiped out, but …