The Japanese all love spring time when the cherry blossom trees bloom. Cherry blossoms are very Japanese. They wait all year being very patient for an anti-climax that is over in a few weeks. For the entire month of March and the first half of April that's all we hear about in Japan."Did you see the cherry blossoms? Did you have a hanami picnic? Aren't they beautiful?" Enough already! GOD! How can I not miss them?! They're everywhere. Okay, I'll admit they're pretty. But I see tons of pretty things all the time, do I go ranting and raving about them like it's the awesomest thing in the world? No. Which leads me to wonder why the Japanese do?

I think that they are all cooped up in their offices waaaaay too long here in Japan. When hanami season comes around their managers usually hold a company picnic to energize the employees. But I think it's just a ploy to get them to think their boss/manager is a great guy. I mean it's like saying here's a picnic, let's enjoy this nice weather now and by the way this is the only time you're getting out of the office. Japanese workers are robots. Robots, that deep-down, want to be free but are too afraid to say so.

I get to listen to all my students describe how they go out and have a cherry blossom viewing picnic and how they made a barbeque, like it's something extra special. The people here just have no clue how awesome America is when it comes to barbeques. When I tell my students that most people have barbeque grills that aren't disposable and are meant to be used while the cook is standing up, (rather than sitting down on a tarp at a picnic) they are usually shocked. They just have no clue, yet they think Japan is so great when it comes to everything. And if you have one of those grills then you're rich.

So although the cherry blossoms are nice, most of the parks that have them have no grass, just dirt, especially in the cities. The next time a Japanese person tells me how beautiful cherry blossoms are I'm gonna tell him that it's not as nice without beautiful and lush green grass everywhere. I hope it shuts him up. Well, maybe he won't understand, grass is not beautiful right?