Cherry Blossom Viewing / 花見

Sunday, April 6, 2008. Yoyogi Park. It's a beautiful day. As you can see from the picture, the day we had our hanami was a week after the the flowers were in full bloom. You can see a lot of green blended in with the pink. But once everyone starts drinking, nobody really looks at the blossoms. I even bought a couple of special Japanese microbrew dark beers for myself. My friend 21ban went to the park early to nab a spot before the place got crowded. Not only was it a nice day, but there was also a charity event for Cebu Island taking place at the same time. However, none of us bothered to check it out though. Not even the food booths which consisted of Thai ramen and Turkish doner kabobs. Doesn't the Philippines have cuisine of their own?

日曜日、４月６日、２００８年。代々木公園。天気は晴れ。写真で見れ分かると思いますが、この花見は満開の一週間すぎた後。葉っぱも段々目立つ様になった。でも皆が飲み始まると誰も桜は見ていない。花見の為に、自分は日本の黒の地ビールをわざわざ買いました。友達の２１番が朝早く場所取りに行った。公園が込むと予想してた。なぜといえば、その日は同じ場所でセブ島のチャリティーイベントも開催していた。仲間は誰一人も見に行かなかったけど。フィリピンのイベントなのに、屋台はタイラーメンかトルコのドネルケバブ。フィリピン代表料理はねーのか？

This is the beers I bought. It's made by a company called Baird Beer based in Shizuoka

Prefecture. I chose a stout and a porter. Both dark beers. I think the labels are pretty cool too.

これが買ったビールです。静岡県のベアード・ビールという会社です。僕が選んだのはスタオウトとポーターの二種類。両方が黒ビールです。ラベルもカッコいいなと思った。

Our hanami was mostly a pot-luck affair but we didn't bother making anything at home. Instead, we bought a bunch of gyoza from a gyoza chain restaurant called Ousho (which I featured on another post). So, aside from gyoza, there was some penne, some chicken nuggets, some onigiri, banbanji, and well maybe it would be easier for you to visualize by checking out the picture. And of course there was a lot of beer and even wine.

今回の花見は持ち参て形だが、うちはなにも作ってませんでした。場所に着く前に「王将」の餃子十人前を買った。餃子以外にはペンネ、おにぎり、から揚げ、等がありました。写真で見ればなんとなくわかるでしょう。もちろんビールもいっぱいあって、ワインもありました。

Here's my friend Tetsu with Shoei (Mari and Nori's kid) and I never did get the name of the cute girl. I'm not sure who she came with. We enjoyed good food and good company and called it a day around four in the afternoon. And finally one last group picture to remember this day by.

この人は友達のテっちゃんとショウエイ君（ノリとマリの子供）。可愛い女の子は誰と一緒に来たか分からない。良い仲間と美味しいもの食べて、結構満喫した花見でした。最後に皆で記念写真。