A sunny spring Sunday.
Some sake.
And the sensational sight and sound of a super-sized drum.
Sake-fuelled Sunday sounds
Culture
Cherry blossoms and cheeky bottoms
When it comes to the much anticipated hullabaloo that is hanami, quiet contemplation or the largely more common large amounts of lager are usually what’s called for, although for some, along with presumably lots of the latter, lolling around in a loincloth is also part of the proceedings.
And while females can join in the fun, a fundoshi is only for the fellas.
As, quite annoyingly, are the not nearly so traditional nipple clamps.
Which are as uncomely,
as they are uncomfortable.
All of which culminates, at least in this case,
in a mildly coordinated melée.
A multitude of mobiles
Due to the necessary noise that Japanese mobile phone cameras have to make because of the possibly nefarious pictures they may be asked to perform, arguably the only sound more common than the cries of Kanpai! during cheery blossom season are the equally constant melodies of mobile cameras.
Carefully picked kimono
A fashion item that in this case has a shelf-life even shorter than the most fleeting of fads, although at the same time it will fortunately be forever wearable at least once a year.
Happy hanami
From literature to young lads whose lives were wastefully blown away in the war, the all to brief beauty of the cherry blossom is often linked with the ephemeral nature of life and love, although fingers crossed, for this currently content young couple, their feelings won’t be too fleeting.
