Hanami 1
Okay, so it's cherry blossom time, and that means hanami. Hanami simply is the tradition of gathering up to go look at the cherry blossoms. People bring picnic blankets, leisure sheets, food and drinks, and spend all day underneath the blossoms.
We don't really have anything like this in Norway, and I love absolutely everything. Even the crowds and mad scramble to get a selfie in front of every. single. blooming. tree.
I took a leisurely stroll up to Ueno today, and just spent some time following the sakura routes, enjoyed some festival snacks, and a lemon sour in the sun. I was about to head back home, when I was approached by this guy who asked me if I wanted to stroll around the park with him. Lololol. I MUST ADMIT, I HAD ALL SORTS OF ALARM BELLS GOING OFF. But thought what the hell. This ended up being a good decision???? I kept wondering if he had some ulterior motives, but it doesn't seem like he did. He was just lonely and didn't want to walk around drinking sparkling wine under the cherry blossoms by himself. I could sympathise.
He told me his name was Kazu (short for something, he preferred this short version), and he's 32 years old. He started talking to me in English at first, but we quickly switched to Japanese. I got so much practice in, I had a blast! I think we ended up strolling around the park together for 2-3 hours????? He was SO RELIEVED when I told him my age, he thought I was 20-23, and was worried we wouldn't have anything in common to talk about. Turns out we had lots in common. We talked about everything from the obligatory "let's compare Japan and Norway" babbles to fan rants about old-school Morning Musume. He was super amused that I could list all their names. (though I accidentally slipped out "Johnson" before I remembered Iida Kaori's real name, and this really set him off laughing ......)
Meeting people randomly like this out in the real world feels really weird. But I guess this is how people used to get to know each other? .... seriously, what did people do before the Internet? I can't remember the last time I befriended someone I didn't meet off the Internet or wasn't introduced to by someone on the Internet. What a time to be alive.
I thanked him for the stroll and the talk, and we sort of made plans to meet up for hanami again at Inokashira park tomorrow :X I was planning on going there anyway! If he doesn't show up, then so be it.
I have updated my picture gallery again. Click here to see all the pictures. As always, reverse chronological order, click the "fortsett (some number)" to see more.
We don't really have anything like this in Norway, and I love absolutely everything. Even the crowds and mad scramble to get a selfie in front of every. single. blooming. tree.
I took a leisurely stroll up to Ueno today, and just spent some time following the sakura routes, enjoyed some festival snacks, and a lemon sour in the sun. I was about to head back home, when I was approached by this guy who asked me if I wanted to stroll around the park with him. Lololol. I MUST ADMIT, I HAD ALL SORTS OF ALARM BELLS GOING OFF. But thought what the hell. This ended up being a good decision???? I kept wondering if he had some ulterior motives, but it doesn't seem like he did. He was just lonely and didn't want to walk around drinking sparkling wine under the cherry blossoms by himself. I could sympathise.
He told me his name was Kazu (short for something, he preferred this short version), and he's 32 years old. He started talking to me in English at first, but we quickly switched to Japanese. I got so much practice in, I had a blast! I think we ended up strolling around the park together for 2-3 hours????? He was SO RELIEVED when I told him my age, he thought I was 20-23, and was worried we wouldn't have anything in common to talk about. Turns out we had lots in common. We talked about everything from the obligatory "let's compare Japan and Norway" babbles to fan rants about old-school Morning Musume. He was super amused that I could list all their names. (though I accidentally slipped out "Johnson" before I remembered Iida Kaori's real name, and this really set him off laughing ......)
Meeting people randomly like this out in the real world feels really weird. But I guess this is how people used to get to know each other? .... seriously, what did people do before the Internet? I can't remember the last time I befriended someone I didn't meet off the Internet or wasn't introduced to by someone on the Internet. What a time to be alive.
I thanked him for the stroll and the talk, and we sort of made plans to meet up for hanami again at Inokashira park tomorrow :X I was planning on going there anyway! If he doesn't show up, then so be it.
I have updated my picture gallery again. Click here to see all the pictures. As always, reverse chronological order, click the "fortsett (some number)" to see more.