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| By Art Schneider |
In Tokyo, and all across Japan, the spring season opens with
the brief flourish of the Cherry Blossom Festival followed by the
six weeks of daily light rain, known as the rainy season. The
cherry trees blossom and the festival, known as “Hanami,” is
underway.
With my foreigner’s eye, my idea of flower viewing is a quaint and pleasant experience. But for the Japanese, the Hanami is not just a pleasant time to gaze at the beauty of the pinkish-white flowers but also a time to have Hanami parties. These gatherings range from tame family affairs in the afternoon to boisterous drinking parties in the evening. To me this seems a contradiction of the passive appreciation of aesthetics and the activity of a rowdy party.
During the week these parties happen in the evenings. Parties take many forms, afternoon picnics, Karaoke parties, and evening picnics. Finding a location for the evening parties is a very competitive affair. Tokyo, after all, is a city of 14 million people with very few open space. So one must be quick and clever to obtain a prime picnic area. Tokyo residents though know how to play this game. You have one or two volunteers from your group leave work early and locate a site. They put down a blue tarp and claim enough space for their friends and wait. These early arrivals get the benefit of leaving work early and get an early start on the party.
After the workday is done, the party resumes in full force. Everyone gathers at the pre-reserved site. Beer and rice wine are brought in by the party goers along with pre-packaged snacks such as dried octopus, spicy potato chips, dried seaweed and other assorted treats. Party goers are also known to bring along portable barbecues to grill the chicken, fish and beef treats known as yakitori.
During the weekends, the Hanami season also brings out the more gentle flower viewers who prefer just absorb the beauty of the season. Strolling along the flowered lanes, enjoying the warming weather and taking pictures with their digital cameras. The parties though still continue. Some parks and gardens have strict rules against the consumption of alcohol. Park officials will politely remind the participants about the rules who will obey and put away their alcohol. But once the officials leave, they will take out the beer and rice wine, and the drinking resumes.
The Hanami festival is actually a bridge between winter and spring. Hanami is a quite pleasant period of 2 to 4 weeks and then comes the 6 week rainy season. There are times though when the two overlap, so Tokyoites still enjoy the festival, but must endure the slight discomfort of a little rain.
There is a serious side of the Hanami as represented in the Japanese philosophy. The cherry trees bloom quickly and just as quickly fall. The petals fall to the ground and are washed away in the rainy season. Thus a brief period of splendid beauty turns into the ebb and flow of daily life.
flourish 全盛期
underway 在进行中的
quaint 奇特而有趣的
gaze at （出神地）凝视，盯着看
pinkish-white 略带粉红的白色
tame 平淡的
boisterous 喧闹的，尽情的
passive 消极的
aesthetics 美的哲学
rowdy 喧闹的，吵嚷的
prime 最好的，头等的
locate 找到
tarp 〈口〉柏油帆布，（防水）布
in full force 全体，全数
dried octopus 章鱼干
dried seaweed 干海苔
assorted 各种各样的
treat 〈口〉极出色的东西，这里指美食
portable 便于携带的，轻便的
barbecue （供熏、烤肉类用的）烤架
grill （在烤架等上面）烤炙
yakitori 串烧
overlap 部分同时发生
Tokyoite 东京人
petal 花瓣
ebb and flow 涨落，盛衰
With my foreigner’s eye, my idea of flower viewing is a quaint and pleasant experience. But for the Japanese, the Hanami is not just a pleasant time to gaze at the beauty of the pinkish-white flowers but also a time to have Hanami parties. These gatherings range from tame family affairs in the afternoon to boisterous drinking parties in the evening. To me this seems a contradiction of the passive appreciation of aesthetics and the activity of a rowdy party.
During the week these parties happen in the evenings. Parties take many forms, afternoon picnics, Karaoke parties, and evening picnics. Finding a location for the evening parties is a very competitive affair. Tokyo, after all, is a city of 14 million people with very few open space. So one must be quick and clever to obtain a prime picnic area. Tokyo residents though know how to play this game. You have one or two volunteers from your group leave work early and locate a site. They put down a blue tarp and claim enough space for their friends and wait. These early arrivals get the benefit of leaving work early and get an early start on the party.
After the workday is done, the party resumes in full force. Everyone gathers at the pre-reserved site. Beer and rice wine are brought in by the party goers along with pre-packaged snacks such as dried octopus, spicy potato chips, dried seaweed and other assorted treats. Party goers are also known to bring along portable barbecues to grill the chicken, fish and beef treats known as yakitori.
During the weekends, the Hanami season also brings out the more gentle flower viewers who prefer just absorb the beauty of the season. Strolling along the flowered lanes, enjoying the warming weather and taking pictures with their digital cameras. The parties though still continue. Some parks and gardens have strict rules against the consumption of alcohol. Park officials will politely remind the participants about the rules who will obey and put away their alcohol. But once the officials leave, they will take out the beer and rice wine, and the drinking resumes.
The Hanami festival is actually a bridge between winter and spring. Hanami is a quite pleasant period of 2 to 4 weeks and then comes the 6 week rainy season. There are times though when the two overlap, so Tokyoites still enjoy the festival, but must endure the slight discomfort of a little rain.
There is a serious side of the Hanami as represented in the Japanese philosophy. The cherry trees bloom quickly and just as quickly fall. The petals fall to the ground and are washed away in the rainy season. Thus a brief period of splendid beauty turns into the ebb and flow of daily life.
flourish 全盛期
underway 在进行中的
quaint 奇特而有趣的
gaze at （出神地）凝视，盯着看
pinkish-white 略带粉红的白色
tame 平淡的
boisterous 喧闹的，尽情的
passive 消极的
aesthetics 美的哲学
rowdy 喧闹的，吵嚷的
prime 最好的，头等的
locate 找到
tarp 〈口〉柏油帆布，（防水）布
in full force 全体，全数
dried octopus 章鱼干
dried seaweed 干海苔
assorted 各种各样的
treat 〈口〉极出色的东西，这里指美食
portable 便于携带的，轻便的
barbecue （供熏、烤肉类用的）烤架
grill （在烤架等上面）烤炙
yakitori 串烧
overlap 部分同时发生
Tokyoite 东京人
petal 花瓣
ebb and flow 涨落，盛衰
顶