Spring Has Sprung

Japan's famous cherry blossoms (sakura) be a'poppin, which means spring is on in the land of the rising sun.



They aren't quite peaking, but they should be over the weekend. When I first came to Japan I wasn't all that impressed by cherry blossoms. I thought, big deal, they only last a few days, and are they even that pretty? In my subsequent time here I've developed a greater appreciation for them though. The arrival of the cherry blossoms here is much more than just the arrival of spring, and it's the other connotations that their blossoming represents that is most interesting to me. Anyway, I'll get into that over the weekend, after which I should have much more pretty sakura pictures to post to illustrate the in depth cultural assessment I have planned. We (myself + friends/coworkers) are planning a hanami, which is a seasonal picnic beneath the cherry trees at their peak bloomage, for tomorrow afternoon. The weather is promising, and I'm feeling somewhat feisty, so while I hope it doesn't turn into another Tsurugi Festival (check the archives for that debauch), I'm looking forward enjoying Japan from the banks of the Saigawa (the local cherry tree laden river) tomorrow.
Last night was the much anticipated debut of one Daisuke Matsuzaka for the BOSTON RED SOX. I was looking forward to listening to the game via my mlb.com subscription, which allows me to listen to local broadcasts of all the games, live. My misfortune began when I miscalculated the starting time of the game. So when I woke up at 5 this morning, it was already the 6th inning. On top of that, I was having trouble logging into my mlb.com account, so I couldn't actually access the game. It was on TV here, but we don't have the necessary cable package that allows us to get the right channel, but I checked the TV anyway with the hopes that NHK would throw us peasants a bone on this historic day. No luck. Thus, at about 5:15, I crawled back into bed not all that disappointed, and slept for a few more hours. Fortunately our work hours have been pretty flexible this week since we haven't started classes yet. Starting next week there'll be none of this getting up at 5 in the morning to listen to the Red Sox business. I'll be happy though once the weather warms up and they start playing games at normal evening times though. At that point they start around 7 or 8 in the morning here in Japan, which is a relatively acceptable time to be awake, and I can listen to a few innings before my morning classes start. So there, now you know more than you ever wanted to about my baseball listening schedule, and the means by which I do it!
Oh yeah, and Daisuke kicked ass, for the record. Glad I'll have many more opportunities to hear him pitch this season, and at a much more reasonable hour of the day. There's a highlight show on tonight at 10 that I think we'll be able to see on our shoddy cable plan, so that's some consolation.
At the moment I'm waiting for Chieko to get home with some spaghetti. I diced up a bunch of garlic and veggies to make some pasta, only to realize we didn't have any. And now I'm hungry, so hopefully she'll be turning up shortly.