Raining again....

Today it continued to rain, temp was a cold 6deg. Damn, what kind of spring is this??? Winter is really overstaying its welcome.

Anyway it was a normal office day, me being the last to leave as usual. Had an interesting conference call with head office in the afternoon, which I did most of the talking...

Perhaps tomorrow's weather will be better. One of the things in Japan is how accurate the weather forecasts are. You can find it on TV everyday, the forecast for 1 week ahead. Sometimes the weather changes and the forecast is also updated. Such is the reliability and dependency of the people on the weather forecasts.

Anyway the forecast for tomorrow is sunny!, with temp 7-15deg. The rest of the week is also sunny, except Sunday, with 30% chance of being cloudy. Time to plan for a golf game on Saturday.

Hanami season....

It is now 花見 (hanami: flower watching) season in Tokyo. However, it was rainy in Tokyo/Kanto area, and my trip out to take some photos of the wonderful 桜 (sakura) or cherry blossom was only marred by an overcast sky and balmy weather....such is life.

The blossom only lasts for approximately 2 weeks, reflecting the shortness of beauty. But nature also dictates that the beauty is renewed every spring, unlike for women (how unfortunate!)....As with anything else in life, the beauty of the sakura is to enjoy it while it lasts.

Many Japanese come out during the hanami season to picnic, just to admire the beauty of the sakura in all its splendour.

With strict drink and drive laws passed in Japan since Nov'07, there was no wine or beer for me....(yes, me sober!). Perhaps those drinks are best left to be enjoyed at night with interesting company....Well as for my friends, I hope this blog allows us to keep in touch daily and share my life in Japan with you, or whatever that may interest you here...

In spite of the balmy and overcast weather, armed with my Olympus E3 and the slew of lenses I have collected thus far, I managed to catch some interesting shots....The shot above here was taken from just 3 inches away with an Olympus 50mm F3.5 Macro lens, a rare brand new old stock manual Zuikor I found on ebay for $200!

The park I went to is called 北の丸公園 (kitanomarukoen), or "northern circle park". Most people out were locals, families and couples, many are tourists from other locales. The photo above was taken with the Olympus 12-60mm SWD lense. It was not bright enough for me to use the 50-200mmm SWD lense, so it stayed in the pouch.

The above photo gives you an idea of what it looks like around Tokyo. The bare trees that normally line the streets suddenly come alive ! One should experience this splendour at least once in your lifetime....