Been a few weeks since a regular post, been really busy! Between work, hanging out with new friends and a visit from wb-, there just hasn’t been a lot of time.
I’ll start with hanami, or cherry blossom viewing. This is my third hanami in japan. The first two time were in hiroshima. I have to say, it is a much more splendid affair here in Tokyo. The cherry trees are much taller and much more abundant. There are pictures in the flickr gallery. Friday the 30th was one of the best times to see them here. After waiting for wb-, I went with some friends to Nakameguro. There is a large river that runs through the town and the cherry trees line both sides of the river. Pretty amazing looking through the trees, like snow was falling and froze as it came through the trees.
We made an all night event out of it, which was fun because I was able to learn more about the people I was with. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, so I am waiting on friends pictures. The next night, I went to Ueno with a friend and we wondered through the drunks and sakura.
On a side note, I saw by far one of the most disturbing yet at the same time logical examples of lack of civil liberties here. A drunk japanese man was complaining to a police officer about something, he then decided he was going to bitch slap the cop. Bad move. The cop hip throws the guy into the concrete, and by this time three other cops have started dragging the perp off to the side. From there they have him pinned on his side, one guy has a knee on his neck and his arm locked out, one guy pinning his hips down and another standing on the legs, right above the ankle at a yonkyo point. At this point the guy is screaming in pain and telling the cops they should be harassing the gaijin that are drunk, not the good japanese.
This in itself isn’t so bad. What comes next is though. Another cop comes in with a huge blank. They start rolling the guy up in it and tie him into this papoose looking blanket. From there they haul him into a back of a car and drive him off. It seems more logical then macing a guy/taser-ing him and cuffing him. Yet at the same time it doesn’t seem humane.
Annyways, some of the pictures of Ueno are up in flickr under the sakura. There are also pictures I took at a small park near my apartment. I think it was probably one of the most beautiful sakura trees I have seen in japan.
During the week I enjoyed the parks near my office during lunch and did a lot of walking around at night with the fabulous weather.
Friday found me at the trainstation with two ladies I work with, planning a practical joke on wb-. It was really funny at the time since we were hammered. Basically they would approach him and give him flowers and then start asking him about his willingness to allow jesus into his heart. This was about the only thing I could think of that might make him go WTF. And I think it worked, it would have been a bit better, but we were expecting him around 830 and he didnt get in till 1130. So the buzz had worn off.. anyways pictures can be seen on flickr.
more to come
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