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Last weekend, my friend Eunja and I made plans to meet at Shinjuku Gyoen on Sunday to indulge in cherry blossom viewing (hanami) before the last of the flowers fell. Mid-way through the week, I had an out-of-the-blue call from my friend Yoko (who lives in Tochigi Prefecture). She was in town for a short visit and wanted to get together. We settled on Saturday, and she suggested Shinjuku Gyoen and cherry blossom viewing.
Anecdote #1:
Supposedly, the cherry blossom viewing experience can be summed up in the phrase hana yori dango (lit. "dumplings over flowers"; fig. "hanami is about food rather than flowers"). In deference to this, Yoko brought along some snacks for us. Included in the snack collection was a pack of Japanese animal crackers. These tragically misshapen crackers each had the English name of its animal printed on the front. One of them was a porcupine. "What's a porcupine?" Yoko asked. "What is a porcupine?" I wondered, and dug out my dictionary. The dictionary defined the word as yamaarashi and also provided a sample sentence that we marveled over. Yamaarashi no you na atama wo shita otoko. ("A man with hair like the quills of a porcupine.") Yoko was at a loss, and I was somewhat at a loss myself to properly explain. Fortunately, however, providence intervened as we were on our way out. "Look to your right!" I abruptly commanded my friend. And there he was. Tokyo is a problem solver.
Anecdote #2:
Most people make the assumption that Japanese people are rule-lovers. Generally speaking, they might be correct. But when the rule is don't bring alcohol into the park, the Japanese become astonishingly non-compliant. As Eunja and I were making our way around the well-packed grounds, a little old woman walking with a group of friends suddenly sat down upon the ground. She rolled backwards kicking her feet up in the air briefly and then resumed a sitting position, laughing like a loon. "What are you doing?" her friends squawked at her. "I don't know!" she laughed in response. "I've had too much to drink!" Clearly, this disregard for prohibition is not merely an issue of rebellious youth.
Anecdote #1:
Supposedly, the cherry blossom viewing experience can be summed up in the phrase hana yori dango (lit. "dumplings over flowers"; fig. "hanami is about food rather than flowers"). In deference to this, Yoko brought along some snacks for us. Included in the snack collection was a pack of Japanese animal crackers. These tragically misshapen crackers each had the English name of its animal printed on the front. One of them was a porcupine. "What's a porcupine?" Yoko asked. "What is a porcupine?" I wondered, and dug out my dictionary. The dictionary defined the word as yamaarashi and also provided a sample sentence that we marveled over. Yamaarashi no you na atama wo shita otoko. ("A man with hair like the quills of a porcupine.") Yoko was at a loss, and I was somewhat at a loss myself to properly explain. Fortunately, however, providence intervened as we were on our way out. "Look to your right!" I abruptly commanded my friend. And there he was. Tokyo is a problem solver.
Anecdote #2:
Most people make the assumption that Japanese people are rule-lovers. Generally speaking, they might be correct. But when the rule is don't bring alcohol into the park, the Japanese become astonishingly non-compliant. As Eunja and I were making our way around the well-packed grounds, a little old woman walking with a group of friends suddenly sat down upon the ground. She rolled backwards kicking her feet up in the air briefly and then resumed a sitting position, laughing like a loon. "What are you doing?" her friends squawked at her. "I don't know!" she laughed in response. "I've had too much to drink!" Clearly, this disregard for prohibition is not merely an issue of rebellious youth.
