Mitsuike Park

In my last post I said that Mitsuike Park was my pick for a great place to see cherry blossoms. But I didn't post any pictures of it. So here are some pictures of Mitsuike Park in cherry blossom time.

The picture full of people having hanami was taken on a weekend; the others on a weekday.

I haven't been to this park in other seasons, but I'm sure it's beautiful year-round. My pictures have focused on the cherry trees, but there are lots of other flowers and trees and grassy areas.

Entrance to the park is free. There's not much by way of shops or cafes nearby or in the park (actually I didn't find any), though of course there are the usual drinks vending machines.

You can take a bus there from Tsurumi or Shin-Yokohama station - bus 104 and get off at stop Mitsuike Koen Kitamon (Mitsuike Park North Gate). If I recall correctly, the bus I took was from Tsurumi bound for Kawasaki, and it took about 15 minutes from Tsurumi. (Sorry; it's been a couple of years since I went there by bus.)

Cherry blossoms

 

Meguro River cherry blossoms

Hanami season has just ended in Yokohama, so I thought I'd do a post about cherry blossoms.

Japan is famous for cherry blossoms, and rightly so. They're everywhere! While the trees are in bloom, ordinary, drab landscapes suddenly transform into visions of beautiful. You suddenly realise how many cherry trees there are about. Most parks have them, because a popular social event in Japan is the 'hanami' or 'cherry blossom viewing party'. These can be as simple as three or four people sitting in a park with beers, or a huge company group all gathering with masses of supplies and food and booze. (Booze is a pretty consistent factor in hanami. ^_^)

Cherry trees are usually at their peak for about a week, but the total window of possible hanami is usually 2-3 weeks. It varies; for example, if the blossoms start to come out, and then the weather turns super cold, they will bloom more slowly and last longer. If the blossoms start to bloom and then it's very warm, or there's a lot of rain and wind, naturally the life of the blossoms will be sped up.

Also, even within a city, different locations may have trees blooming at different times.

If you want to go to Japan for cherry blossom season, it's difficult to time perfectly, but it's well worth it. It changes from year to year, but usually the last week of March and the first two weeks of April are prime cherry blossom times for Tokyo and Yokohama.

I'm going to list the places I have been for hanami or just taking pictures of cherry trees. Any of these places could be wonderful if you go when the sky is blue and the trees are at their peak, but here are my thoughts.

In Kawasaki city There are a couple of places I know; firstly, right next to the train station rails, between Kawasaki Le-Front and the tracks, there's a row of trees which are rather pretty. Also, if you walk from Keikyu Kawasaki toward the race course, you'll find a small shrine, and there are a few cherry trees here. I wouldn't particularly recommend these spots, but they're good if you happen to be in the city.

Kawasaki Daishi and surrounds Kawasaki Daishi is a large, popular shrine to visit. The park nearby is large and full of cherry trees, so it's a popular hanami spot in spring. It's nice, and you may even be able to tie it in with a visit to the, erm, unique Kanamara festival.

Kawasaki Daishi

Odawara Castle If you travel south of Yokohama, you can hit Odawara, a small castle town. The castle itself is a reconstruction, but still pretty. This is quite a famous cherry blossom viewing spot, and no wonder. On the grounds is a lake (?river) with a street lined with cherry trees; very picturesque.

Mitsuike Park It's in Tsurumi - you'll have to take a bus or taxi - but it was one of the most impressive cherry blossom displays I saw; the park is large, and the park was full of them. This place is popular for hanami, but because it's so large, you should be able to find a place. There's a lot of nature in general, too - it's not just a small, stunted city park with lots of asphalt. I wrote a little more about this park (with pictures) in my next blog post.

Yumemigasaki This park, in Kawasaki, is not all that impressive for cherry trees. There are a few, but not many. Still, I've been there for hanami a couple of times; I think my friends choose it because it's not very popular for hanami and we can always get a good place. There's also a small, free zoo nearby.

Ueno Park This famous park in Tokyo is a famous hanami spot. This is where you see the junior businessmen sadly sitting in the rain on their tarps, protecting the prime hanami spots for their company. The corridors of cherry trees are very beautiful though. You can also buy festival food here.

Ueno Park

Meguro Along the Meguro river in Meguro, Tokyo, are masses of cherry trees. This is another of those places that made me just stare and go 'wow!' I wouldn't come here for hanami - the pavements are not that wide, and it's a bit urban - but it's a great place to walk.

Sakuragicho In Minato Mirai, Yokohama (well, 'Sakuragicho' means 'Cherry tree town', after all). This is not a great place for cherry trees, but there *are* a bunch of them along the bridge to World Porters/Cosmo World. Also a few near the Landmark Tower.

Okurayama A park in Yokohama (Okurayama is on the Tokyu Toyoko line, and the park is right near the station). The cherry blossoms are quite good - not great - but actually this park is more known for its plum blossoms. Plum blossoms come out earlier than cherry blossoms.

Okurayama

Of course there are other famous hanami spots around Tokyo and Yokohama, but these are the ones I have personally visited in the three springs I spent in Japan. ^_^ As for my personal recommendations... I think Mitsuike Park is the most impressive, but you should also visit the Meguro River and Ueno (Ueno's hanami are a bit of a Tokyo institution). If you'd like a day trip, Odawara is also nice.

Doala

What would you suppose would be the famous mascot character of a baseball team called the 'Chunichi Dragons'?

That's right, it's a giant blue koala called 'Doala'. This character is a popular mascot, and a famous 'face' of Nagoya.

I was amused the other day, passing by a Japanese curry shop, to see that they were selling Doala curry.

I don't know, I think I'd prefer beef...

Lining up

Back when I was teaching in Nagoya, late last year, I asked my students my usual Monday morning question, 'what did you do on the weekend?'

One student's reply: 'I lined up 6 hours to buy Arashi goods.'

Arashi is a popular boy band. I am a fairly open-minded person. Although I personally probably wouldn't spend half a day lining up to see a famous person or get concert tickets, I can understand that some people might want to.

However, please note what she actually said: she lined up to BUY ARASHI-RELATED MERCHANDISE. The band did not appear in person at all. Apparently this merchandise was specialised for their Nagoya appearance, which somehow made it so desirable that thousands of young girls would line up for 6 hours or more. She said the sale was at Nagoya Dome, and people were lining up from OZONE station. o_O

I have mentioned before that many Japanese people seem to have more patience for lining up, particularly for a product that is considered to have a reputation or is for a limited time. This is a nice little illustration of the principle at work.

Nagoya-ryori

Nagoya is known for its food. I wasn't overly impressed - I thought the restaurants there lacked variety - but I'll give you a small features on Nagoya food.

Miso katsu
Katsu is deep-fried, breaded pork. When it's good quality (ie, not all gristly), it's actually delicious. The oil gleams on it beautifully. ^_^ Miso katsu is katsu with a thick, dark miso sauce on it. People describe the taste as 'koi', which, roughly translated, means 'heavy' or 'rich'. It is quite a strong taste, though not bad. I wouldn't recommend getting a large dish of it unless you're sure you like it.

Hitsumabushi
This is an eel donburi dish, ie, eel on rice. If you like eel, and rice, you will probably enjoy it. ^_^

Ten musubi
The 'ten' is from 'tempura', and the 'musubi' means rice ball. Basically this is a sushi roll with tempura inside. I like tempura, so I like this reasonably well, but I do find it a rather odd combination.

Miso nikomi udon
This name is a struggle to say quickly. ^_^ This is an udon (noodle) dish with miso flavouring and lots of vegetables. Miso seems to be a bit of a specialty of Nagoya cuisine.

Miso nikomi udon. Yes, that's an egg. Yes, it does look disgusting.

How does it taste? Hmm... not as bad as it looks. That dark brown colouring is from miso, and the whole dish tastes strongly of miso. It is also 'koi' (strong) and a bit salty. I don't really recommend it.

Tebasaki
These are fried chicken wings. Basically, they just taste like fried chicken wings, but they are very tasty, if a bit fiddly to eat. You can see tebasaki in the picture at the top of this entry.