Spring Plans

My plans for the spring are to see more cherry blossoms this year. The last two years I felt a bit nervous about going out to see cherry blossoms because of crowds but it’s also left me feeling a bit melancholy. I often pass through Naka Meguro for work, and it is one of Tokyo’s cherry blossom viewing hotspots. With good reason of course, the river lined with rows of cherry blossom trees is quite the view, but this means that it is also jam-packed with people. Because of this, my plan is to go at the crack of dawn. Before I head to work, I will leave extra early and see the flowers in the morning, hopefully beating most of the afternoon crowd. I did this once before about 3 years ago and foot traffic was rather light so I’m hoping it will be the same this year. If I can time it right, I can go view all the blossoms while taking a nice leisurely stroll and if there is enough time I can pick up some breakfast before I have to head out to work. To me this is the ultimate tranquil morning.

I also recently moved to Monzen Nakacho which also has many cherry blossom trees that line its river. Those blossoms are just a few minutes’ walk from my new place so I might try to take advantage of the view for as long as it’s around. I really love how often flowers bloom in Japan and my guilty pleasure may be taking photos of flowers I find pretty, the irony being that I have terrible pollen allergies. Again, since it is so close to my home, maybe I can stop by in the early morning and catch the view of the blossoms in the early morning sunlight. Then again on my way back home in the twilight. It’s something so simple, but it gives me a lot of joy.

My other goal is to go strawberry picking before the season is over in May. Every year my husband and I go strawberry picking with his family at a small local strawberry farm near his parents’ home. It is never crowded there which makes me feel very safe, especially during these days. My husband is probably the one who looks forward to strawberry picking the most, constantly creating little chants about the activity and challenging everyone on how many strawberries they think they will be able to eat. I’ll admit that it is rather fun and, overall, a nice family bonding activity. It’s something I have also come to look forward to every year. We would usually do it earlier in strawberry picking season, but so far our schedules have not matched up, so I’m really hoping we’ll be able to schedule it in time this year, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this. I think the person who would be the most disappointed would definitely be my husband.

Sandy

Vocabulary

melancholy (noun) - a feeling of being very sad that lasts for a long time and often cannot be explained
crack of dawn (idiom) - a time very early in the morning; daybreak
leisurely (adverb) - done without hurrying
tranquil (adjective) - quiet and peaceful
pollen (noun) - a powdery substance produced by plants