The Sakura/Cherry Blossoms are in bloom here in Kumamoto. They're such a beautiful sight. So beautiful that hey have an event dedicated to just viweing the flowers with family and friends in a picnic style setting called "Hanami." The kanji for Hanami, you can see above, is 花 (Flower) and 見 (to watch). During these events, people come and settle down around Kumamoto Castle, as there is a park directly adjacent to it. They bring tarps they can sit on, food, drinks, and spend hours talking with one another, enjoying everyone's company, and enjoying the view of the cherry blossoms.
I actually went twice to Hanami. The first time I went, I had signed up through the school to partake in a meeting and interview with a few other foreign students living in Kumamoto. Together, I went with Danielle (From Canada), and Iku (From Taiwan). There weren't too many of us who partook in the meeting, maybe only 7 or so. Before we got the chance to see the flowers, we were interviewed as a group all in Japanese. I was a little nervous about this as the event was to be televised, so they were recording us the entire time, but everything turned out just great. After our interview, we all went out and they had so much food!
And here's a picture of everyone we saw while seated there.
It was still a bit early in the day, so there weren't that many people there quite yet.
The very next day, we went again with the new exchange students and some of our Japanese friends!
I'd go into more detail about the newer exchange students, but I'm waiting for their Welcome Party which should be held in about 2 weeks or so. Currently, we're all getting ready for out first day of school on April 8th.
Also, while there, we received a special gift! There were people there working for Red Bull who went around and gave everyone free Red Bulls!
The cherry blossoms are still in bloom all over town, and soon classes will start for all of us here. It's the beginning of the second semester here at Kumamoto Gakuen University.
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