starts here + more pics

So you probably caught the desperation in my last message about the cherry blossoms being in full bloom and us being nearly three-quarters of the country away from them. There is an online cherry blossom (sakura) forecast that is updated every few days, which tracks the sakura blooming dates. the sakura flower in order from the bottom of Japan to the top, depending on when the weather gets warm. The sakura season is generally march-april (early spring) but last winter here in japan was one of the coldest in decades, so here in the middle of may, we still thought we were in with a chance for catching them up north at the top of japan. the sakura are pretty unpredictable as it all depends on the weather, and once they bloom are only around for 7-10 days, then that's it till next spring.

in our first week here we were checking the forecast every day and we originally planned to spend a few days in tokyo and then head directly up to sapporo in the north. but the forecast was saying they would bloom up north maybe may 14-22 (we'd missed them in tokyo by a couple of weeks) and we are here till the 24th, so we thought we'd head south first to kyoto, osaka and hiroshima and then do the cherry blossoms last, as a perfect ending to our japanese experience. it wasn't to be. the three of us split on sunday... i went home to tokyo with my cold, NJ nearly got booked in kyoto (for what, he is not sure) so he followed suit later that day, and huey was in kusatsu with yukari and her family. somehow, between the three of us, we forgot about the sakura. about midnight last night i thought i'd check in and see everything was on track and found all the forecasts had been removed from the sites we were checking, ie, party's over, folks, nothing to see here.

we got very despondent but yesterday morning we woke up sober and somewhat hopeful. our most gracious host yukari, for whom i dont have the words to express the thousand kindnesses she does for us in a day, was up at 8am researching possible ways to get up there ... check this link below, it is FAR...

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/japan/ - click on the map

check it - kyoto to hakodate today, hakodate to sapporo tomorrow morning

... so then yukari called up a hotel at random and the receptionist confirmed that yes, the sakura are in full bloom, right now. so we thought and deliberated and drank coffee and then thought some more and decided - we gotta go for it. for me personally, i wanted to go less for me than for my cool-as-funk nephew, Jesse, who has been writing me lovely messages about seeing the flowers. so i thought, yep, jesse, i'll get you those damn pics, even if it does mean 12 hours of train travel....

i should mention also (we are on the train for our first three-hour leg of the trip, lets face it, there's time), that one of the factors we had to take into consideration in making our decision was whether or not we could survive 12 hours travelling together. we are, in a sense, one big happy family, but things came apart yesterday in spectacular fashion, the build up of a few weeks... stuff. it started off nice enough: huey and i spent the day in kyoto together, walking around mainly gardens and one temple, huey says 'seen one temple, seen them all', and i tend to agree) and we went and met up with NJ at 3.30pm at kyoto station where he was arriving from tokyo, having recovered sufficiently from his near-booking experience to give kyoto another go.

we caught a bus over to gion, where we spent the afternoon walking the streets, geisha spotting. i saw what i thought was the japanese paparazzi in one of the back streets so we set up a small camp by a river and watched what they were watching. i had the sense something big was going to happen - the boys, not so much, but we beers by this point so they were happy. anyway, after about half an hour i saw this geisha coming down the street and i did a running walk (nobody runs here) up to some bushes and crouched expertly behind them, camera poised. after a minute or so i realised that she seemed to be POSING for photos, so i went up and took a few (see below). now, i dont want anyone to take this the wrong way, but that geisha seemed a little ... well, plump, for a geisha. but she had the full gear on,and i was pleased enough with my scoop so off we went down to the main river, where we drank some more and ate some delicious snacks from Lawson (a convenience store that has successfully figured out KFC's not-so-secret recipe) and watched this street performance artist doing some weird interpretive dance thing. we called her crazy geisha, and not-so kindly, the geisha that john west rejected. see also the photo below and you will catch our drift. we found out later when we got home, that geisha no. 1, was not in fact a real geisha, but just someone who had hired all the gear and was made up for the day, which you can pay through the nose to do here if you desire. no mind. anyway, it was a great afternoon, gion had a great vibe and we headed home just after dark to yukari and the promise of learning how to make my favourite japanese dish, okonomiyaki.

this is where the story takes a turn. the river was right by the subway, and i suggested (hugh says insisted) we take the subway back to kyoto station for our local train to kusatsu. we got on in the opposite direction but figured that out after a few stops, no big deal. then, we alighted at kyoto station but it wasn't the same kyoto station where the local trains go from, apparently. i maintain that it was, but my navigational skills are pretty dodgy, so i cant argue that point too strongly. hugh set us off out of the station and on this super sketchy under-the-bridge-downtown kind of journey, which was about a kilometre AROUND the edge of the station, which we could not see for most of the time. hugh kept saying, trust me, and i started stomping (we had been walking all day, mind you) and he took revenge by drinking my last drink. uhuh-huh-huh-huh. perhaps i should skip ahead here. we found the station eventually, just as hugh said we would, when nj said he was just going to duck up to the bathroom before we got on our final train home.

20 minutes later, still no nj. hugh and i split up to look, and to spare you some details, when all finally met up again, some harsh words were spoken, between nj and i, and hugh and i. funny, they didn't fight with each other. (nj just corrected me, he had harsh words with hugh too, before they found me). so the rest of the trip home was silent, and the rest of the evening, a bit tense. then we found out about the cherry blossoms, and that pretty much brings you up to speed. we all agreed this morning, it was all just a MIScommunication, and we are all friends again now, but you can understand why we were a little nervous about a 12-hour train trip. but it'll be fine, there's plenty to look forward to up north, and if nothing else, we will get to sleep some of the way. we can't be sure the sakura will still be there tomorrow - such is their fleeting beauty - but we have our fingers and toes crossed. there's a couple of brewery tours up there and some good onsen (japanese hot springs), so it's all gonna be okay either way.

i should also mention that we found this amazing second-hand store the other day in nagahama (halfway between kyoto and osaka, where kim and yukari drove us on sunday - will catch up on kyoto when we get a decent internet connection again) and i bought the most beautiful light green tea and bowl set in light green for 700 yen, or $8), and various other items. we had planned to go back to tokyo in a few days and drop all this off, but as our plans have changed, i am now lugging the damn thing around with me, along with my backpack and laptop. but i won't complain... i promised.

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