SMF

Every year when the cherry trees start to blossom it’s a party along the ookagawa river. Venders set up their tents and sell food and drinks and people walk along the river and enjoy the beauty of the blossoms. I went last Sunday to check it out.

The blossoms are at about 50% toward full bloom. They should reach their peak by this coming weekend.


I enjoy seeing all the people as much as the blossoms




The venders sell all sorts of tasty food


Yakisoba


Yakitori


Everyone is having a good time!






Nobody seems to mind it being so overcast




Like I said, I enjoy seeing all the people as much as I do the blossoms.


When these trees reach their peak this scene will be amazing.


Hope you enjoyed!
Mike

I was delighted to see the Brazilian flag in one of your pictures. A lot of Japanese migrated to Brazil, whose culture is probably the farthest possible from culture in Japan, and they have done very well there.

- Murray

Great job Mike. Here's what I saw --- she turns to catch a quick glance at someone who may be taking a sly snapshot in her direction, she's thinking "why's he doing that!" as she instinctively places her hand on her backside in a protective reaction, just in case ---

CMur12 wrote:I was delighted to see the Brazilian flag in one of your pictures. A lot of Japanese migrated to Brazil, whose culture is probably the farthest possible from culture in Japan, and they have done very well there.

- Murray

Hi Murray, yes, there is some kind of connection between Brazil and Japan. Samba dancing is extremely popular here with numerous festivals every year. There's a large population of Brazilians living here in Japan and as you mentioned there's a lot of Japanese living in Brazil. The area around the Ookagawa river is home to many different nationalities; and that's a good thing because there's a lot of restaurants run by them serving their ethnic food.

Regards,
Mike

brothers wrote: Here's what I saw --- she turns to catch a quick glance at someone who may be taking a sly snapshot in her direction, she's thinking "why's he doing that!" as she instinctively places her hand on her backside in a protective reaction, just in case ---

Gary, you're close to the truth. As a people person I noticed here immediately. I had a 50mm manual focus lens on my digital camera and she was fairly close to me with her back turned to me. I pointed my camera at her and focused but I didn't take a picture because I consider it bad form to take pictures of people from the back. With the camera still at my eye I thought to myself "I wish she'd turn around" and at that very moment she struck the pose you see. I actually don't think she even noticed me. I've been doing this sort of "street photography" for quite a while and I think I've gotten a way of walking through a crowd taking pictures as I go without people even noticing me. It's probably also helpful that I'm always polite, never intimidating or aggressive and I have my own code of conduct on how to behave while taking people pictures.

All the best,
Mike

Beautiful pictures, Mike! I do love me some yakisoba.

Mike, your pictures all seem to tell a story. I can tell that you truly have connections with your subjects. Again, thank you!