Washington DC and sakura (cherry blossoms)

Posted on Apr 10, 2009 in Hiroko's Blog

I was in Washington DC last Wednesday for the Grand Sushi and Sake Dinner event organized by National Cherry Blossom Festival, held at National Geographic Society Museum. Three hundred diners fully enjoyed a special spring Kaiseki Ryori (Japanese formal meal) with sushi to celebrate the arrival of spring. Trevor Corson, Michael Simkin …and

I offered entertaining and educational lectures during the delicious meal. Great thanks to Nobu Yamazaki, Terry Segawa, Kiyoto Kondon, and others for wonderful job!

Washington DC was at the peak of cherry blossoming.  Here is a lovely photo of flowers taken at the back of the White House (left photo).  Gorgeous blossoms,………but something is missing…..no one picnicking under the trees as we do in Japan (right photo)!

Here is a report from my husband from Tokyo. He and many hundreds of thousands of Japanese went to Ueno Park in Tokyo yesterday to see the magnificient trees there and enjoy hana-mi – flower viewing – under the trees as people have been doing so for over thousand years. The crowd spread out in groups on tarps beneth the trees enjoying a vast variety of food and drink under the beautiful blossoms. He reports that he bought an obento lunch box at Tokyo Station (a very special one, transported to Tokyo: sea trout pressed sushi from Toyama Prefecture, the western Japan Sea side of the country), some cold beer and found a tight spot on the ground under the trees to be part of one of the most delightful old and continuing rituals in Japan. Buzz did not have a camera with him, but I have below a picture of how hanami is celebrated in Japan iwht wonderful food, dring and commaderie.