Hanami in Manami

How lucky I am! It's only my third week in Japan, but it happens to be just that special time of the year when the cherry-trees are in full bloom. What an experience, not because of their sheer beauty, but also because Japanese people attach such a signifficance to these short-lived flowers. The trees are no ordinary cherry-trees, by the way. I have heard many strange and contradictory things about them, and I don't know what to believe, but here in Japan everything is plausible.

Supposedly, these flowers don't produce any fruit at all. Hard to imagine and kinda dissapointing, when you picture all the cherries that would be hanging everywhere in June.... hmmm, delicious! But I can see the Japanese planting thousands of these trees simply for their flowers, which last about a whole week in the year, and have no other purpose at all. During that week, however, everyone gets out to take a look at them, enjoy the scenic beauty of the pinkish-white fluffy hillsides, sit under the cherry-blossoms, have a picnic of sushi with green tea, and get drunk on sake. This traditional once-in-a-year event is called hanami (flower-watching), and I was lucky to participate.

As we were planning the weekend, it almost seemed like the entire event was gonna be washed away, as we saw a gloomy cloud formation over Korea coming our way. Fortunately it changed its path towards Hokkaido, and we could enjoy the most perfect weather possible. On a clear and sunny Saturday morning, the teachers of Active English met up outside the school to go on a little trip. The destination was the famous wasabi farm nearby, which just happened to have a Geocache hidden somewhere. Wasabi, by the way, is the green horse-raddish that you put on your sushi, and that has brought many tears to the eyes and noses of quite a few inexperienced gaijins, myself inclued, who tried to eat too much of it at once.

To our surprise, the wasabi farm was much more than a farm. There were beautiful bridges and old buildings, a water-mill, ponds with cute Japanese fish, a Shinto gate called tori, a bell to make a wish with, lovely stone carvings everywhere, and a cave with a special sort of thing burried inside. And since it was the season, there were gorgeous sakura (cherry blossoms) everywhere. What is more, there was no entry fee, so I felt good about buying fresh wasabi with a grinder, so now I can grind my own wasabi at home.

We took our time walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the scenery. Of course there was Wasabi growing everywhere, with streamlets of clear water flowing through the fields. There was a drinking fountain as well, where we could taste the purest water, which was just good enough for this delicate plant. We passed through the tori and made a wish with the bell, we walked across the bridge, petted the fish, and explored the cave that was not very deep. Outside our friend Takashi read the sign and told us the story of this unusual little cave:

Back in the old days, there was once a fierce, big man, spreading terror throughout the land. He was so strong and so powerful that everyone feared him, and there was nobody who could bring him own. Finally, when he was eventually killed in a strange an obscure manner (about which there was unfortunately no information), the people decided to cut up his body, just in case he might come back to life. Each part was burried in a different cave as far apart as possible. This cave was just one of them. However, which part of his body had been hidden in this cave, the sign didn't say. For us, though, there was no doubt in our minds that it could only be the most important one.

Next, we walked up the spot where the Geocache was supposed to be hidden. It was not burried in the cave, only behind a rock, but it was one of the best organized caches I have uncovered. It was in excelent shape, very well organized, with lots of interesting trading goods. The website
for Geocaching and this cache in particular can be visited here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=7a4a90cd-2668-4999-917b-d6adee4e03d0
We made our exchanges, and I left a travel bug behind that came with me from Germany. After hiding the cache behind the same rock, we tried some of the delicious wasabi ice-cream they were selling there. It was not quite as spicy as you would think.

Afterwards, we went out for lunch. Instead of going to a ramen noodle shop as first intended, we bought some packed lunch and went up to the hill Koboyama in the town of Manami. Koboyama is hill on the edge of town, covered with so many cherry trees that from far away it looks like a piece of cotton candy during sakura season. What would be a more ideal place for flower-watching? There were quite a few people there for the hanami, but their disciplined culture did not disturb the tranquility. We sat down on the hill, enjoying the view over the town, and the cherry trees all around us, unpacked our sushi and ate it with fresh wasabi. How wonderful. What a perfect day.