Osaka Mint Sakura

A day off and a trip to the Osaka Mint where they have a Sakura garden which opens for about one week each year to show off the flowers.  The weather was immaculate and there were hundreds and hundreds of people.  A pleasure to see the beauty of spring and to celebrate it with so many others.  

one of the many shops and restaurants outside the Mint catering to the huge numbers of people;
eating under the trees

tour groups

picture taking

and more picture taking

only 300 meters until the exit

the Sakura of the year

70 meters to go....

flower patrol

Sakura News

I often enjoy listening to the sounds of Japanese on NHK radio through my computer.  I don't understand most of it, but I can decipher the weather report, and sometimes piece together information about the daily news if I've already heard it in English.  If it's a cooking show that's a big bonus because as a foreigner in Japan, some of the most early-learned and oft-spoken words concern food.  It's delicious.

But I have also noticed on the radio and on TV when I've seen it in hotels recently, that along with the weather report, there is a Sakura report.  Where are the blooms the most beautiful, in what places have they reached their peak, and when are they expected to do so.  We were warned of potential traffic on the return journey from our tour due to the report that the trees in the area were very beautiful and worthy of many visitors.

People in Japan ask if there is Sakura in America, if I have seen the blossoms before.  And the answer is yes.  Spring is beautiful anywhere in the world, and there are blossoming trees in the states.  But we don't have reports on their beauty.  We don't have a ritual of going to view the blossoms merely for the sake of viewing them.  The trees bloom and we exhale the breath we have been holding all winter.  Perhaps we go individually.  Perhaps we decide that one year we are going to go for a walk.  But to make it an annual event is something new to me since coming to Japan.  Perhaps knowing that it is there makes the winter seem a little different.  Don't worry, spring will come as it does every year, and the flowers will return as always.

Courtesy Pipes

In general, things seem pretty efficient and practical in Japan.  This is balanced with anime, grocery store theme songs, and polka encores, but in general, things are pretty simple.  But in the under belly of HPAC someone decided to do something completely unnecessary.  It greets me every morning as I walk in from parking my bike.  

painted pipes in the basement of HPAC

I've been thinking about courtesy.  The courtesy of creation, the importance of sharing.  We create the space in which they live.  In the midst of grey, a gift to the world that sees no sun.  

The After-Tchaik 6

There is speculation that Tchaikovsky composed his Sixth Symphony as a suicide note.  It is an incredible work: powerful, light-hearted, jovial, with a last movement that is unapologetically passionate and brokenhearted.  It is one of the few symphonies that dares to end quietly, leaving the performers and the audience in a dark, empty, still space.  Applause usually waits for the breath to reawaken as we realize we are still living.

We die in agonized despair together.  What comes after that?

It turns out it's a Strauss Polka.  Two of them actually.  Life goes on, it seems.  Let the good times roll.

Happy Family

The caring embrace of Fukunari-sensei.  Her cup of tea and sweet were predictable but an extra treat waiting for me were the pictures of her family from her time in England.  I saw her son, his wife, and their son and daughter.  Several pictures later his wife was smaller and he was holding a baby; a family grows.  She explained how the two male children in her son's family had given names ending in "-zou," meaning "happy," like their father, like his father–something passed through generations.  It seems that a given name can be a combination of characters and one of them can come from one's parents.  Perhaps it is similar to passing along significant names in a baby's middle name in America, or the practice in Russia and elsewhere of the family name coming from the parent's given name.  And now Fukunari-sensei has a new "-zou" in her family.  Shiawase.  

Sado-san Quartet Coaching

Sado-san is a very, very busy man.  Everyone wants a piece of his time.  Just this concert alone and the upcoming tour are big projects.  He guest conducts in other places when he isn't here, and when he does come to HPAC, he has many meetings to take care of all the various bits of business that accumulate in his absence.   He is a very, very busy man.

But despite it being apparent that he is busy with all the things he is doing, there is little about him that seems to be so.  He never seems hurried, or frustrated, or impatient.  And in the midst of a very tight schedule, he agreed to coach our quartet after a long day of rehearsals.

He spoke about sound and articulation, of having a more substancial sound in quiet sections, of creating tension in our phrasing, of bringing out new ideas as they emerge, as though it were an improvisation.  It's the way Beethoven composed and we should make it more fresh.  In lieu of understanding everything he was saying, I could gather a great deal in his gestures as we played.  Simply having him in the room was an inspiring incentive, knowing the way that he works with the orchestra.  It was exciting to be working with him.  A privilege to have the gift of his time and attention.  Otsukaresamadeshita.

Cute Dogs and Big Skies

What makes a day need a big sky?  Today was one of them and so for the first time since moving here I ebbed into my curiosity and stopped at a calisthenics area along the bike path.  I lay on the one of the back stretchers and stared at the sky watching the clouds move.  The sky is always there, but in spring it's easier to see it.

I also enjoyed some of the amusements.  Foot massagers, back massagers, and dogs in bike baskets patiently waiting for the return of their trusting owners who have gone for a little light jog along the grass.

cute dog waiting in the background