Photographs from a small group of islands
Tokyo’s cherry blossoms may well be associated with large amounts of booze, but they are a yearly pleasure enjoyed by people of all ages. From pensioners like the ones posted last week. To the young families photographed below. A simple social event that more than anything brings lots of people together. And, in doing so, for a few hours at least forces the far less pleasant aspects of life to fade away.
After the curtailment of cherry blossom-related festivities last year, there’ll be no holding back whatsoever this time. In fact, so keen are revellers to get sat down and sink a beverage or two, that many areas are already busy, despite there being very little in the way of blooms, let alone a beautiful blanket of them.
However, for this elderly hanami gathering, it’s hard to decide whether it was an early, or late visit.
What on earth this little old lady was carrying in her bag will forever remain a mystery, but considering its obvious weight and substantial size, my guess is it was another little old lady.
Japanese fertility festivals aren’t necessarily for the faint of heart, but what they definitely are is fun; good-natured bawdiness that remarkably never seems to slip into sleaziness.
What these events also do is effortlessly mix the traditional, with the not so traditional, such as the standard happi coat and a rather less conventional penis costume. A contrast that is clear to see, although what kind of conversations it conjures up is pure — and possibly puerile — conjecture.
It’s not all that unusual for farmers to fashion scarecrows from mannequin heads and a few old clothes — a look that can be both surprisingly convincing as well as suitably scary.
Others, however, are either not so creative or simply can’t be bothered, and instead just make do by shoving a head on a stick.
