Today is Japan’s Hinamatsuri, the national holiday of tiny dolls set out to pray for young girls’s growth and happiness, yet another name for today is the Momo no Sekku, or Peach festival. The warm winds of spring are on their way, and the peach and plum blossoms are just beginning to show their true beauty here in Tochigi. This afternoon we were treated to a gentle, warm breeze out of the Northwest. The river is running higher and higher as some of our neighboring foothills begin to thaw and, of course the perpetual sign of spring, muddy puddles scattered about helping to make my bike rides and walks more like a game of Mario than anything else. Thank goodness I’m so easily amused and can imagine it’s hot lava or something exciting like that because otherwise I’d probably consider it a big inconvenience swerving, jumping, and pushing my way around the hills of our tiny Nakagawa, Japan. But it’s all cool =) I’m a child at heart!
To top off the signs that a brighter season is soon approaching, as I was saying before, the first plum and peach blossoms have done just that: blossomed. The hilltop hotel where I have my monthly Rotary meeting also has a scenic plum tree garden, so today, seeing as my host father is currently in Wakayama on business I told my host mom that I’d walk the hour plus route back home. I enjoyed the sun, actually rolling up my sleeves, and later, due to the mud, my pant cuffs. It felt like I was back in shorts and a T-shirt once again. Can’t wait for the renowned cherry blossom season that is just around the corner. I’ll definitely have to snap some more photos then as well.
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