Oh Tokyo!

Alright everyone, I'm temporarily suspending the radio silence to bring you a few photos from the front. I've been working on research papers and catch up work, but I can't say I've been so busy... All but two of my American friends left, so I have spent a lot of time trying to make new friendships. There's some serious silver lining--I feel a little isolated, but I'm finally 'immersed,' finally forced to get over myself and make more Japanese friends. And, best of all... 

I finally got my hanami!

And it's been perfect! I wanted to write a detailed entry about my various cherry-blossom-viewing excursions, but the blossoms were only around for a few weeks, and I decided it was more important to live in that moment as much as possible! Plus I landed in Tokyo about a day before the "full bloom" mark, so I had to savor what was left of the season. Besides, hanami parties are a great way to get to know new people! So that has been wonderful. I'm not particularly articulate tonight... I woke up about 17 hours ago to work on a paper I turned in about 10 hours ago, and I've had classes and stuff since then... so I will leave you with a few photos and fewer words.

Me, Hiroyuki, and Shimizu. Hiroyuki's a devoted surfer. He made a pilgrimage to Huntington once--pretty much my hometown (^_^). Shimizu spent two weeks with a host family in England. He told me the fog was really cold.

My friends Walter and Steph (far left) hung out with me during the March 11 quake. I was really lucky to have them! Diness (bottom left) is a friend of Yuu, and comes from Nepal! The guy in the grey collared shirt is Kimihito. He and Hiroyuki hang out on the weekends.

Apparently this is a very special form of sakura tree--it has the same shape as a weeping willow, and is very pretty.

We got really lucky--Tokyo's official full bloom date had passed a whole week before, but out in Futako-Tamagawa there were still plenty of blossoms.

This is my friend Yuu! We've been hanging out ever since we met back in February, and he's been helping me meet new people now that most of my friends are gone. His English is quite good and he wants to come live in California. He's really sweet and he works very very hard. I like to picture him just chilling in PB without a care in the world... If anyone's earned a dose of Socal, he has.