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April 2003 I had heard that cherry blossom viewing is a big deal in Japan. I still know approximately nothing of the actual ceremonies, etcetera, but I did get to see what was going on at Ueno park on a Friday in early April. Totally amazing. Imagine a forest of trees with no underbrush, and tons of itty bitty flowers coating all the trees. Little white or pink flower petals coat the trees, drift to the ground and scatter about. Quite an awesome natural sight. Equally amazing were the thousands of people filling the park to overflowing, all sitting on tarps, with twice as many shoes as people at the edge of each tarp. The scene was simply mind blowing for me. Tons of people, all well dressed (business suits and ties, dresses with stockings), and all enjoying a terrific spread of food - including camp stoves to cook, cups and saucers and plates and chopsticks, plenty of alcohol and glasses. Many many of the people there were drunk. From teenage girls dancing and wrassling and giggling and occassionally pointing at us... to older salarymen (Japanese term for those who work 9-5 or 8-6 or more) singing and playing games and yelling "kampai!" (cheers!)... to more polite families enjoying an elaborate picnic including three generations of family... Just the sheer numbers of people amazed me! A sea of happy drunken faces, and not a single harsh word nor complaint, much less a fight. I'm guessing that with a radical change in clothing, this would describe the scene in Ueno Park 200 years ago. Elaborate kimonos replacing dresses and suits. (I'm still not clear on the names of, nor the difference between kimonos and other traditional Japanese styles of dress.) However, I'm sure the opening of trade relations between Japan and the world at large around 1850 (*) slowly brought this part of the festival: hundreds of booths filled with food or drinks or souveniers lined all the sidewalks, with the largest array of edibles *ever* for our enjoyment. I had a weird pancake of shredded potato plus fish plus egg plus ginger plus something else and maybe more. The coolest snacks I found were fortune cookie flavored little cats and bears that were just great and sooo cute! The coolest non food was a beverage in a bottle using a marble as the lid. Too open the bottle, one pops the marble down into it! I had heard of such and maybe seen some in Australia, but it's still way cool. The freakiest food was large bite sized pieces of octopus, red with white suckers. - - - - I attended the festival with several Nova employees, many of whom had arrived in the same batch as I at the airport. Dru, Janelle & Kevin, Emma, Mindy, Robbie, Shehan, Ben and others all joined our party over the course of the evening. The Japanese around us were friendly, giving us free sake and Jack Daniels and some variety of sushi or other food items. When we were first approached, a man babbled Japanese to us. Our blank/confused faces turned the babble into broken English: "sakura," he said, pointing up and all around at the trees. We agreed, "yeah yeah sakura." Then "Sake!!" he smiled broadly, pointing to his tall bottle of sake, and we're like, "oohhh!!!" etc. His friend produced little plastics cups and various amounts of sake were distributed all around. The volume of sake each of us received was not the product of our negotiating with him, "please, fill it up!" or "oh, I'll just have about half a cup" or "no thanks, I'm driving" (not that any of us were driving, but that's an example of what we didn't say).. but in his inebriated state, he couldn't pour a predictable amount. I got just a swallow the first time around, which was fine with me. We toasted "kampai" and drank. Kevin got a full cup, and redistributed his portion to those of us who wanted it. Later in the evening, my cup was the lucky one, brimming with sake. I had a sip and gave the rest to Emma who accepted it gladly. At the end of the evening, I tagged along with Robbie, Shehan, Emma, and Mindy. I felt like a fifth wheel, though all those wheels kept rearranging themselves and chatting it up. Robbie became our fearless leader and got free food and sake for our group just by drinking and yelling "kampai" at various people. Those who responded with a hearty "kampai!" seemed to invite him in and the rest of us followed. I felt a bit.... ashamed/chicken/embarassed/something that I couldn't or wouldn't be just as bold as Robbie. How was this young cat able to just do that? Just *talk* to people even though he knew almost no Japanese? Our group was approached by a woman with a microphone, who claimed to be recording brief interviews with gaijin (foreigners) for her radio show. She asked Emma a few questions, but not anyone else. The show was to be aired a few nights later. Overall I had fun, and got a free can of beer that I donated unopened to the fire juggler we saw that evening. We learned he had been street performing his juggling routine about five years and was careful not to drink before or during the show so he wouldn't "throw fire." By the time we chatted with him after his show, got pictures of Emma and Robbie each holding beers while posing with cops (to prove that it's legal to drink in public in Japan), and briefly met a couple more gaijin travelers, it was getting pretty late, so we headed home. - - - - (*) Back in the day, after foreigners brought unrest to Japan, in 1637 all the foreigners were kicked out of Japan and its borders were closed to the world, except to allow one Dutch ship per year into Nagaskai. In 1853, given the news brought by the Dutch of the wild wild western culture, when American Commodore Matthew Perry and Russian Admiral Putyatin, arriving separately, both demanded that Japan open its borders, the Japanese knew they'd not be able to defend themselves against an aggressive attack by the west. So Japan opened up trade with the west. (My roommate Frank and _Culture Shock! Japan_)