Cherry Blossoms!!!

Spring has sprung!!! I can finally go outside without a fuzzy coat and gloves on! The weather has been beautiful and although I've spent most of my days inside due to our late night rehearsals, the sun shines through my window and brightens up and warms my apartment! But then I just checked the weather forecast and it's supposed to rain for the next week...April showers bring May flowers, right?

Hey! Speaking of flowers, that's exactly what I'm here to write about! I have been looking forward to seeing Cherry Blossoms since I signed my contract!!! All of my friends who had done Tokyo Disney contracts kept telling me how beautiful they were and I couldn't wait to see them in person!

Japanese Cherry Blossoms, also known as Sakura, are only in bloom for a handful of weeks. They are in full bloom (mankai) about a week after the first blossoms open (kaika). The trees then shed their petals about one week after full bloom. The average blooming period for Tokyo is March 28th-April 5th.

We were very lucky to have a day off right at the peak of full bloom! A group of us traveled out to Ueno Park to enjoy a day under the Sakura.

But first we needed to get some snacks! It's hard to tell from this picture, but
there was an alley of food vendors on this little island in the middle of the
lake at Ueno Park. It was hard to see much of anything because it was so crowded.
There were all sorts of snacks to choose from: corn-on-the-cob, takoyaki (remember
those octopus balls), pastries on a stick, kebabs, noodles, omelets, chocolate-
covered waffles, etc.

Oh and fish on a stick if you were feeling very adventurous...we weren't.

This was my choice and it was a great one!

I also got a fizzy Japanese drink and corn-on-the-cob
along with my kebab :)

The food was delicious, but THIS is what we came for!!! 

There were lanterns hanging all around the park too! It was a nice touch!

Didn't actually go up to check it out, but it made for a nice picture...

It was magical walking beneath the blossoms!!!

So we found a nice spot for our picnic (actually it was someone else's spot.. oops).

But they were friendly and came over and chatted with us for a while! There were two more guys but
they must have been taking this picture.

They were pretty funny guys! Language barriers can be quite entertaining. They seemed to really love Grant too...

Then the dog from the group next to us came over to say hello.
We were all in need of some puppy love. Good thing there are
shops where you can rent a pet by the hour! I will be doing this!!!

It was a lovely day and I'm so glad we were able to all experience the Cherry Blossoms together.
The Japanese people seemed happy we were there too. A lot of random people came up and took pictures of us while we had our picnic, we were asked to be interviewed for a television program, and we entertained an audience when we took this photo together:

We don't seem to blend in very well...Crazy gaijin...

My life the past 3 years (especially 9-1):
24 Observations of a Disney Cast Member