Of sakura, snow and castles

It is my third April in Japan. Two years ago, I would never believe I’d be saying this. My third year. My third spring. My third contract. One day I should go home, but not when there is still the most amazing country out there to explore.

So the part of the country to explore this time was Fukushima. You might remember Fukushima from such times as: oh the time there was an awful earthquake and tsunami that threatened a nuclear plant and everyone was worried about radiation. Yep, same Fukushima. I’m not knowledgeable enough to report on the current state of the reactor but I do know that outside of the near proximity of the plant is safe and asking for tourists to return. And that’s just what we did. Note: we were at least a hundred kilometers from the no-entry zone.

So off we were on a rainy morning to the bus stop to see the last of the sakura as 2013. At least we could count on sakura unlike the last time we ventured out in the rain on a similar tour and were deprived of the flowers. The rain I can deal with. Now, the snow, in spring, IN APRIL, after having a brief fortnight of summer in March… now that, I was entirely unprepared to cope with. So along the expressway we are driving on the bus when Mr. tour guide announces the roads are closed for SNOW! I still kinda can’t believe it. So, we get off that expressway and take another which was also eventually closed for SNOW! Still in disbelief we slipped off the toll roads and onto the local ones and there it was: the perpetrator… SNOW!

Eventually we made it to Aizu-wakamatsu in Fukushima, but we were two hours late. In the end this was worth it for by the time we stopped for lunch at this collection of samurai houses, the sleet had soften to a light misting. The samurai house was really cool, especially in the snow and sakura. It belong to the retainer of the castle lord which I do believe was the Matsudaira clan, a family branch of the Tokugawa, because Matsudaira Katamori was from these parts. He was one of the awesome samurai who stayed loyal to the shogun even when hope was fading. The place, while beautiful, has a dark shadow over it in that when the castle fell at the end of the Boshin War, rather than disgrace their husbands and sons the woman all took their lives there… In the end, they were on the losing side of the war and this battle marked one of the last stands against the Imperial forces on Honshu. The last stage of the war, where the remaining Aizu clan and Shinsegumi resolved to begin their own country: the republic of Ezo, was a battle in Hokkaido at Hakodate. I hope to go there. Maybe this summer.

 

  

Next we went to this museum for some drama airing right now about a samurai girl from that time period. Not totally exciting, but they put us on this cool television green screen with feudal Japan in the background. And after Sheena and I played with petals in the snow.

And then, the clouds parted. The gods answered my prayers or the power of positive thinking came through or maybe the clouds had just sleeted themselves out. Point is, suddenly it was the most beautiful day with the sun so bright and the sky so blue it alomost brought me to tears. I had been preparing to deal with a dreary grey sky but also hoping and imaging just the sky we got. It was perfect! Few things are quite as perfect as that afternoon spent under the clouds of pink beside that dazzling castle. The light was perfect, the sun, perfect, the sakura, the castle, the company the everything!!! Perfect!!! I just wanted to spin circles in the puddles and praise the gods for creating such a glorious moment.

And so, after a wonderful photo shoot it was time to begin returning south but not before our last stop. The best way I could possibly think to end the day was with a 1000 year old weeping cherry tree. It was magnificent even if we had lost the light by the time we arrived and I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of interesting people had been there before me. We had only a little time but I insisted in covering the circumference around it and climbed up to this crest of sakura trees catching the last rays of sun before it slipped behind the snowy mountains. It was incredible.

Thoroughly pleased with the day, and grateful even for the two hour delay for had that not happened we would have missed the blue sky at the castle, I grabbed a hurricane potato and some karage at a food stall and we made our way back to the bus. It was a long trek home to Fujiyoshida but I fell asleep smiling. And we all lived happily ever after, except my boots, which soaked through and died, and ended up in the garbage.