Sakura: Hanami Season

In Japanese sakura means "cherry blossom" and hanami means "flower watching or viewing"... Hana means flower and the verb mi means to watch/see.

This was my first time viewing the sakura in Washington, DC since coming back from Japan. I must say that Washington, DC's sakura season is getting better every year. I went with my friend, Mariko, who is originally from Chiba, Japan. She was teaching me some of the different names of the different sakura in Japanese. I even saw a group of sakura trees that came from the Yoshino area in Nara, which is where I used to live. They were the most beautiful of course.

I am currently reading a travelogue book that my friend, Denise, let me borrow. It's called
"Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan" by Will Ferguson, a Canadian JET teacher (like I was in Japan). This book is about him hitchhiking from the southern-most point of Japan to the northern-most point during sakura season. This book is so hilarious because I can relate to everything that he is saying about being a foreigner in Japan. I'm going to recommend it to ALL of my friends that are/were teachers in Japan. By this time next year, I plan to be in Japan and I've been inspired to travel throughout Japan to visit my friends during cherry blossom season for two weeks. Anyways, enjoy the pictures below...