Ah the season is upon us. Drunken salarymen and women gather in the great outdoors (AKA concrete parks) to view the cherry blossoms so beloved by the samurais thousands of years ago. This is a hotbed of discussion amongst my students this season. Many of them arrive with their white surgical Michael Jackson masks on and blow their noses repeatedly into tissues during lessons. They apologize profusely as they deposit their snot into their free advertisement tissues and I can hardly disguise my disgust. One of my students explained the art of Haikus (very popular this season apparently because the cherry blossoms serve as inspiration for creativity) through his sniffles. Haikus are Japanese poems consisting of 3 lines comprised of 5,7, 5 syllables respectively. The theme can be anything but the haiku must have a connection to the season for which it is written. With this in mind, I bring you my first haiku:
Pollen attacks us,
They come with masks and tissues,
The snot flows always.
Pretty good, hun? Well, I like it. My office hanami party is going down tomorrow night after work in Oji at Askayama Park in my old stomping grounds of Oji. I go armed with chex mix and skittles (courtesy of Lani) and a bag full of cheap flavored canned shouchu drinks called chu-his. Ah, Japan. If it all goes well, perhaps it will inspire the next haiku! Stay tuned . . . .
