Japanese celebrity!

Whoooa. I went to see the Waseda cherry blossoms with a friend today, and on the way back we saw a crowd of people and tv microphones and the like. We joined the crowd to watch, and Gabi whispered excitedly, "I know that guy! He's on a gazillion tv shows!" I have no idea who he is, but we ask a guy telling people not to take photos what's going on. He said they're filming for "Bura Tamori," an NHK program airing in October. We hung around for a while, watching (and think we may have been in the camera's view at times - sadly we won't know if we are since we'll be back in the States when it comes out!). They seemed to be discussing the cherry blossoms, but we weren't close enough to hear anything.

Tamori is considered one of the three biggest comedians in Japan, along with Beat Takeshi (who we learned about in one of my courses last semester actually), so he's a big deal. He hung around for a while, hoping they might wrap up and we could get an autograph or something, but it was getting cold and dark so we headed back. :p Still really neat though. Never seen a famous person before, haha.

Back in Japan & Ohanami

I'm finally back in Japan as it grows to the end of spring break. Though jet-lagged and out of it, it's sakura time and I went to Iidabashi with my friend Mari to take a look at the famous cherry blossoms. Most are only partially bloomed, as the weather turned cold again - they'll probably reach their full bloom later this week and I am going to Yoyogi Park at least on Saturday for more, but they were still quite beautiful. As always, more photos on flickr.











Hungry koi, a staple of Japanese gardens. :p