Nago Cherry Blossom Festival

January 28, 2014

Cherry Blossom Festival

On Saturday evening, we enjoyed the company of some of Jim’s friends and coworkers in a sort of “house warming” party. There was good food, laughter, and talk about work and military politics. I joked with the other wife who came, “Do they every talk about anything else?” I suppose in a world disconnected from the other categories of small talk (local politics, professional sports, even the weather – which doesn’t change much) there is only one thing left – work. Not divulging any classified information of course, but not anything I understand or could participate in. Even so it was a fun time.

We learned of the Nago Cherry Blossom Festival taking place over the weekend, in celebration of the first cherry blossoms in all of Japan blooming.  The cherry blossoms have cultural significance in Japan. See the excerpt below from http://www.livescience.com/28424-cherry-blossoms.html

In Japan, cherry blossoms also symbolize the transience of life, which is a major theme in Buddhism. The cherry-blossom tree is known for its short but brilliant blooming season, a natural process that metaphorically describes human life.
Additionally, cherry blossoms have long held significance to Japanese nationalism and militarism, anthropologist Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney wrote in her book "Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History" (University Of Chicago Press, 2002).
A fallen cherry blossom symbolizes a fallen samurai who sacrificed his life for the emperor. During World War II, the flowers took on a similar meaning when they were painted on the side of kamikaze warplanes.

We went to Nago for the festival Sunday. On the way, we happened upon a marathon in progress. Traffic stopped until all the runners had passed.

This guy is in first place, and our first clue to the cause of the traffic jam.

In addition to the adorable Shisa barricades, there are also dolphins.

The picture just doesn't capture the color of the ocean, bright blue in some places and so deep in others.

When we got to Nago, we took a shuttle to the top of a hill (mountain?) where the cherry trees were plentiful and picturesque. There were a number of walking paths (and plenty of stairs). It started raining just as the shuttle was returning to deliver another load of people, and pick up those ready to leave. We hurried up all those stairs to the top and were just able to fit on the shuttle bus. The bus had two fixed seats on each side with an aisle down the center, and an additional seat pulled out the side of the chair! What a novel idea, and with the generally slow speeds on Okinawa it would be safe enough.

Mountainside of Cherry Blossoms

The city far below

A viewing platform in the distance

The rain made for beautiful pictures

Fascinating yellow flowers were large and looked almost papery

Traffic was thick as we went back to the pick-up spot, so the shuttle let us off near the main street where a parade of Eisa was making their way through town. We watched the singing, dancing and drumming until they reached the end – the giant 300 year old tree. 

The music was performed live!

The cross street at the end of the parade began the carnival games and food vendors. My first thought was that they reminded me of the town in Spirited Away where the parents turned into pigs! The carnival games were simple, with stacks of interesting prizes. The one I liked best was where you could catch little gold fishes (for a fee, of course). I saw a few proud little youngsters carrying a small plastic tank with fish in them.

Looks remarkably similar to Spirited Away

Chocolate covered banana guys!

At the end of the carnival street was a tall stone staircase. Curious what was at the top, Jim and I began the climb. A couple hundred stairs later, we were far above the city at a shrine. People would throw a coin or two into the bucket, ring the bell, and say a sort of prayer or homage. Back down the stairs to the bottom, my knees were a little bit shaky!

You can see how small the town is at the bottom of the stairs

We sat and ate some squid and shrimp cooked in a batter. Kind of like a loaded biscuit. They were very good! Then we moseyed back through the carnival street towards the car, stopping at a couple of the food vendors to sample their fare.

Shrimp and squid dumpling-things

Sausage lollipop

All together it was a beautiful experience, and I’m very grateful we didn’t miss it, even though my calves are still sore from all the stairs.