Inner Musings from Tokyo : March 2021

March is a great month in Japan, as it typically starts off with winter and slowly progress towards spring – One can experience two different seasons “Winter & Spring”.

March is beginning of spring in most regions of Japan and March means “Sakura” – This year though the Cherry Blossoms bloomed early, taking everyone by surprise. Our neighborhood was also blooming with lovely Sakura…

Spring and Sakura season always feels like a sign of new life and a fresh start in Japan.

Sakura blooming from every part of tree?

Almost every month in Japan comes with some cultural festival – symbolic to Japan’s old kept traditions – These are all celebrated with fervor and is looked for eagerly each year…

March 3^rd is celebrated as Hina-Matsuri (Dolls Festival) – This day is also referred as Girl’s day, where families pray for the happiness & prosperity of their girls.

March is also the time for goodbyes in Japan – one prominent one is the Graduation ceremony, that’s held across schools in Japan. This pandemic did affect this ceremony and in 2020, most of the schools had cancelled the same but this year Japan learned to celebrate in midst of pandemic with some restrictions.

As the schools ended in March, we participated in our son’s Graduation ceremony – He graduating from an Elementary school to Junior High School – What a feeling of Joy!

To celebrate our son’s graduation, we visited Kawagoe – A town of history retaining the culture & aroma of EDO, “Ko-Edo” Kawagoe. We spend time relaxing & absorbing the feeling of Edo!.

The vibes of Kurazukuri Street makes you feel to return again and spend time in midst of this historical ambience.

If you are here in Koedo Kawagoe, a coffee at this historical Starbucks becomes a must – We had a good coffee in this ambience of Edo! – Did people drink coffee then! ?

To close this years Cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo, we went to Naka-Meguro, one of the top most spots for Sakura viewing – This should not be missed at all in case one is in Tokyo during spring…

And relish some drink and eats to enjoy the hanami…

Would you believe at 12, we encouraged our son for a solo trip in his spring vacations – Woh! Our son had his first solo trip to “Nagoya” from “Tokyo” – The feeling he exhibited after returning from the trip was priceless.

Why did we do this?

We just wanted him to experience the feeling of independence and maturity, as he is going to start his new life, a little tough school life for next 5 years – Graduating to High school from Junior High School and then Graduating from High school to University…

All that way our March ended with a mix of personal and cultural experiences.

Have a great April, Mina-san!