“An afternoon in Kichijoji” is NOT the title of our video

This post concludes our little Kichijoji series that we started over a month ago but didn’t get to continue due to unforeseen circumstances (of laziness).
A few (ehehe) weeks ago, before we were even thinking about cherry blossoms, the duck and I spent an afternoon wandering around this pretty neighborhood, accompanied by my loyal camera and weak arms. Actually, this video is a contribution to the Wandering Bard – a wonderful project that I can highly recommend checking out!
Now, feast your eyes on our beautiful, characteristically shaky, camera work and your ears on those weird mumbles that I’m considering sparing you from in the future, at least in the next video or so (you’re welcome):

We hope you liked this most recent manifestation of our weirdness and are looking forward to welcoming you to our next moving picture (in the least glorious sense possible) in another three months or so, hahahahaha!

Your movie stars,

the duck and I

Hanami

After our previous three and a half posts about the start of spring, sakura (cherry blossom) flavored cookies and actual cherry blossoms (or what was left of them) in Inokashira park, you might already have guessed that the duck and I had been majorly excited about experiencing spring in Japan (especially after the seemingly endless days of freezing), undeterred by our powerful antagonist: the villainous pollen – this year with an extra portion of evilness! Strangely, despite our recent focus on spring, we have not yet written about the Japanese’s favorite early spring pastime: hanami!
Hanami translates to ‘flower viewing’, but mainly refers to sakura specifically.

Duck? Were you even paying attention? I don’t see any cherry blossoms in your rose-colored bouquet of flowers (a kind gift from our dear house mate).
As soon as the first blossoms appear (or are estimated to appear, which turned out to be the doom of some of the bigger organized hanami parties – but I’m getting ahead of myself here) on those cherry trees that are scattered all over Japan you’ll find all major cherry blossom spots crowded with picnickers, casual strollers and all kinds of photographers! Well, the duck and I are pretty new to that whole cherry blossom business, so instead of telling you facts, we’ll give you a little account of what we have so far learned (and made up) about hanami and all those people who are super excited about it. In fact, on our stroll through Inokashira park last week, we got to experience some of those hanami enthusiasts first hand: