Sakura

There is probably no blog about Japan that can avoid talking about Sakura (cherry blossom) or Hanami (cherry blossom viewing, or actually rather eating and getting drunk under cherry trees). Cherry blossom is a big event every year. People are looking forward to it, a bit like Midsummer in Sweden.
This year, in spite of the colder winter, trees started to blossom 10 days before usual (apparently what matters is the difference of temperature between night and day).




There are cherry trees all over, everywhere. I like the way they blind in with the city.
Saturday was a sunny and warm day, perfect for walking around. Unfortunately everyone got the same idea. As you can see on the pictures it was rather crowded (so crowded that some people passed out -see photo- no, I'm kidding...), but I guess this is part of the event.



Our walk led us to the Kitanomaru park and the Yasukuni shrine. This Shinto shrine commemorates Japan's war dead (Yasukuni= peaceful country). A big political controversy surrounds Yasukuni because since 1978, fourteen class A war criminals are among the 2,5 million enshrined there. For some people (especially the Chinese), the shrine has become a symbol for Japanese militarism and ultra-nationalism, and many are taking the prime minister's visits as a sign that Japan' s political leaders are not looking critically enough at their country's history. Oh well, for us it was just a nice day out.