Ben Taylor: Cherry Blossom

Saturday, the third of April, a striking day.

Approximately 12:30 I was had just started pacing around in the kitchen, trying to decide what I would eat for lunch. Right on cue, Blair Thomson called, asking if I was free. "Yes... why?" I responded. "Come to a hanami party!"

"No worries."

My lunch died this day well before its time, and for this, I mourn. I walked to the nearby Shinagawa station, carrying a jacket for myself, as well as one for Blair, as he predicted a cold afternoon, despite the warm ambient temperature at the time of his call. Taking the familiar Yamanote line to Shibuya, I met Blair. Together we jumped the next train to Harajuku, another station along 'my' Yamanote line. 'Jumped' may not be a good word to use there, as the train was incredibly full; a more accurate verb would be 'pushed' or 'shoved.'

Arriving at Harajuku, one thing was immediately apparent; everyone in this city had decided that today was the best day for a hanami party. There was a line simply to start climbing the stairs from the platform, and this line continued throughout the entire train station, and only began to dissipate around 100 metres after the station itself finished. You may consider this 'bad,' but the mass of arrivals had forced the line going onto the platform to be single file, and it moved far slower than the 'exit' line ever could.

Our goal was to meet some friends of Blair's, and some friends of theirs, et cetera. Accordingly, we resolutely marched towards Yoyogi Park, amidst the masses. As we exited the station proper, I heard a strange sound. I shall attempt to describe it to you: "BEN."

This was strange, because we were in the middle of a veritable army of Japanese, sure my hair looks funny, but I did not think I stuck out that much. To exasperate my surprise, I really do not know that many people in this country, so what the heck? Soon enough an answer appeared, a customer of Leafcup, an English communication cafe I worked for, had noticed me. At the time, it was nice, and talking to him was fun, but later on I was even more grateful for this chance encounter.

Together we marched towards Yoyogi Park. As we walked, I was interested to find that Harajuku was the closest station to this park, not the more logical 'Yoyogi station.' Whilst we walked, Hiroshi and his friend invited us to join them at their hanami party, which unfortunately Blair and I had to decline, due to our impending meeting with his associates.

Walking through the park, the sheer number of people shocked me. On both sides of the path we tread, were groups of people seated on blue tarps, eating and enjoying the beautiful day. Nevertheless, this did not even compare with the wall of people marching with us along the path. I remember almost daring myself to jump on top of the nearest person and see if they would help me crowd surf all the way there. I have photos of this event, but until I either get my website working, or decipher a photo blog website, they shall remain displayed only on Facebook. In fact, they are not even on there... yet.

Our march ceased at what appeared to be a toilet block, located close to a pond, approximately the park's centre. Hiroshi greeted some more of his compatriots here, who again offered us a seat at their upcoming celebration. We repeated our, now quite practised, declination speech, but said we would wait with them to see which party would find its remaining members first. Blair attempted to hasten this process with a myriad of phone calls to his friend, attempting to locate their group. Unfortunately, our success was far from assured.

Whilst we waited, there was a group of five or seven Japanese young people, I cannot recall the exact number, practising a dance right there in the middle of the park. I was so impressed, not only that they were quite good, but also they were brave enough to, so shamelessly, practise this dance in such a public place. Whilst I attempted to sneak photos of them, I was informed by my companions that, not only was this common, but that they would be overjoyed to notice their momentary stardom, and would laugh at my surreptitious paparazzi behaviour.

Soon enough Hiroshi and his friends decided to go for quick turn about the 'immediate' vicinity, in a visual search of their remaining companions. I say 'immediate' here, as this seemed to imply quite a decent walk, as we were surrounded on every side by beautiful cherry blossoms, innumerable Japanese people, and blue tarpaulin as far as the eye could see.

Farewelling them for the time being, Blair and I found a seat on the edge of a nearby fountain, deciding to at least sit and have something to drink whilst we waited for his friends. Unfortunately, Softbank, the company with whom we both had mobile phones, allowed very little reception in the area, and we had issues with communication. Pondering our options, Hiroshi and his friends arrived and gave us the answer. They had not found their friends, and accordingly we all waited together on the edge of this fountain, eating a little and drinking a little more.

Soon enough more friends of Hiroshi arrived, one of which had a bag in which was situated the cutest dog I have ever seen. Please see photos.

Time, it seemed, was intent on marching on, and far too soon, division struck our group a decisive blow.

I am still behind, chronologically, on blog posts. This post refers to Friday, the 26th of March.

Today I had a job interview. I have been having quite a large number of these recently, as there are plenty of tasks native English speakers can apply for, no matter what your life experience. The first of these interviews was to work in an English conversation cafe. There are many of these style places around, so I shall describe it to you.

When I say 'cafe,' I mean a building owned by this business, which generally contains a couple of tables surrounded by a decent number of chairs. The other important aspect of these places is an area where teachers and students alike can forage for themselves some tea and/or coffee. These jobs are part time, and only require you to be a native English speaker, and be able to talk to others with a little sensitivity to their language abilities.

What I have just described, thus far, has proved universally accurate. The unfortunate downside for such places is this: due to the ease in which one can get a job there, they pay very little. Despite this, any work is better than no work, and this particular job is quite easy, and so far quite enjoyable. I say so far, as I have now worked not one, but 3 shifts in such a place. It was in fact the second English-speaking cafe that I applied for, that quickly provided me with work, and a pleasurable experience it was. In fact, this second cafe, called Leafcup, also provides different opportunities for staff and guests to mix in different settings. For example, tomorrow, Sunday the 4th of April, Leafcup has invited me to a Hanami party with the school.

However, I shall keep the details of Hanami parties to myself for now, as I have, what should be, a particularly enjoyable blog post or two coming up about one such event, so do not touch that dial folks!

Please forgive my tangent. My job interview on this particular Friday was not for an English cafe, but for private childcare. Our meeting place was not a home, but a park close to my employee's residence, called Saigoyama. To get there, I took my favourite train line, Yamanote line, to Shibuya. This station is decidedly familiar, as I often use it to go places, or go through it to get elsewhere.

On this occasion, I arrived here, and then had to walk quite the distance to my new location. There were, no doubt, many train stations closer to my goal, but I was happy to walk, as it provides many opportunities. For example, I may get the chance to find interesting places, such as a beautiful park or shrine, or simply get the chance to see different areas of my current home.

An interesting walk it was, and I only got slightly lost, which was nice. When I arrived, I went to, what I thought was, the designated meeting spot. I knew only to look for a Japanese woman with children, but regrettably, this was quite a common thing in this area. I slowly walked past one, then two possible candidates, but neither took the bait. Disappointed, I called my prospective employer, to be told that a child related incident had momentarily drawn her homewards, and that she would arrive again at the park soon.

With my spare time, I explored my surroundings, taking a few photos, which you may enjoy.

Though beautiful, I am not exactly sure what this tree is, I assume somehow related to the cherry trees, but markedly different in flower. If you know what type of tree this is, please leave a comment with the answer!

I am not expressly a 'flower person,' but one cannot help but appreciate the colour and order shown here.

These drinking fountains are common in parks around Japan. Note: the tap can be turned and left on, but I have never seen one left so much as dribbling; this is Japan after all.