Playing Tricks

Last night I went out for dinner with my friend Taka, and his girlfriend Akiko. It was the only the second time I had seen Akiko, she's a bit shy and hard to get out of the house sometimes. I first time I met her was when her and Taka met back in October.

It's cherry blossom time here in Japan. They bloom and fall off all in the course of a few weeks. So I'd better get out there and take some pictures. Last night I asked my friends Taka and Akiko about the signifigance of the Cheery Blossoms (Sakura). As I am a foriegner with a short time left in the country I had better not try to figure it out for myself I had decided.

At first Taka said that it was like a new beginning. The school season starts now, work starts now and other functions of Japanese life are having their starts around now. Ok I thought, that's interesting. But it didn't really serve to deapen my understanding of this place.

Later Akiko would mention that the Cherry Blossoms remind us not to hesitate in life. The blossoms are only on the trees for a week or 2 and that the lesson to be learned was that life is short. If you want something, just go for it. 'Oh yeah', I thought, I guess that is an important lesson. hmm.

Later we went to the Gaigin bar in Shizuoka. There I ran into a friend of mine from England, Kate. She invited us out to a Hanomi party in the park. Hanomi is like a polite way of saying getting drunk. At the park we would be drinking under the cherry blossoms. At first it sounded to me like something you might do back when you were in high school. Go get drunk at a park. But Taka and Akiko wanted to go see the Cherry blossoms. So I handed off the rest of my nachos to some guy from Cincinatti and we made our way to the park.

We arrived there and I saw something a little different than what I was expecting. There were maybe 200 or so Japanese people all doing the same thing. They were spread out in small groups of friends sitting on matts. They were just getting hammered under the Sakura. And then I understood the signifigance of the Cherry Blossoms. In fact I'd say it hit my like a frieght train. "Of Course!!. You drink under them! They're like Christmas trees for getting drunk!"

Half of understanding a culture is being able to relate to it and take part in it.

Taka and Akiko would wander off on their own for a stroll under the blossoms. Those 2 are really into each other, it's really quite disgusting.

I would stay and talk with Kate and her friend Duffy(California) for a while. We talked about our experiences in Japan. Kate has been here for 4 years, Duffy for 7. I am the rookie as I still seem to marvel and be baffled by this place.

I could only stay for a short while tho as I had to make my way back to the train station so I could head back to ultra conservative and kinda boring Fujieda. There are gaigin here, but the gaigin bar here is a bit of a Sh** hole and I almost never see other gaigin there. I hear it said that the Skin Flute used to be a fairly decent place to hang out, but now it's a ghost town. Kinda sad really.

It's ok though. I like Shizouka a lot better. The gaigin all seem to look out for each other there. It's kinda nice. If I were ever to return to Japan, I would live in a bigger city like Shizuoka or Tokyo.

My life here is really starting to take on a full form. Biking friends, gaigin friends, Dojo friends and friends who loan me snowboarding gear so I can go with them to Nagano. Last night under the Sakura I started to wonder if I would stay in Canada when I got back. Maybe just my mind playing tricks. 8 months of relative strife and anxiety and now this.

Here is a little footage of me on the board from Nagano last week. Not bad for my first time if I may say.