EASTER, SUNDAY, SAKURA AND MORE

The confluence of events marking the day -- Easter, the usual weekly Sunday holiday here in Japan, the peak of Tokyo's cherry blossom display and another perfect day, weather-wise -- is really remarkable.  And, if Lee's experience is any indication, it brought out record crowds everywhere (and a gorgeous, nearly full moon into the crystal clear night sky this evening)!

Most, of course, crowded the sites noted for their blossoming trees.  The range of activities observed among the teeming masses so gathered: joggers, bikers, young and old, families and co-workers gathered beneath the flowering trees, vendors, dog walkers, weekend oarsmen out in small rowboats, garbage sorters -- and thousands upon thousands of strollers just out for a Sunday walk.

Most, of course, being Japanese or visiting tourists / travelers, brought cameras to capture the day.


Other signs of Spring's arrival were encountered as well.

The real stars of the show, however, were the cherry blossoms, several varieties, always stunning.  The overall effect both beautifies and softens the surrounding city, transforming urban reality into a fantasy of bellowing pink and white clouds of blossoms everywhere one turns.  (Most of the following images were captured near the Imperial Palace grounds in the middle of the city.)

Lee realized, halfway through his stroll yesterday afternoon through the avenues of blossoms in Ueno Park, that "Being in Tokyo for Cherry Blossom Time" should have been one of the items on his "bucket list".  He added it retroactively -- and crossed it off simultaneously as having been completed.  What an extra special treat to be here on an Easter Sunday as well ...

Of course, not everyone in Tokyo today was enraptured by blossoming trees.  Just as many crowded the shopping streets of Omotesando and Harajuku where Lee's urban adventure took him later in the day. 

His primary objective was to visit the Ota Ukiyo-e Museum and its newly installed exhibit highlighting some of Japan's most well-known woodblock print artists.  He also visited an upscale shopping mall (new to him although currently celebrating its sixth anniversary) and then got totally caught up in trying to document some of the fashionably young Japanese encountered on neighborhood streets, alleys and boulevards together with images of some of the shops they appeared to frequent (or not - neither rhyme nor reason appears to dominate the local fashion scene.  As you'll see, "anything goes"!). 

The cliche states "All Japanese see themselves as Middle Class."  If that be the case, then, while the American Middle Class seems endangered as good-paying factory jobs disappear and tax breaks go primarily to the wealthy, in Japan many seem to be moving up into the Upper Middle Class.  At least this view could be demonstrated in the stores, shops and malls that crowd the streets of major Japanese cities.

Omotesando and Harajuku in Tokyo together constitute one of the major retail centers in the entire country.  Especially on Sunday, both areas (made up of major avenues and small branching alleyways) come alive with shoppers out consuming and confidently demonstrating their selected fashion style as they stride down the street from store to store in search of the "latest thing".

It's like an Easter Sunday parade every weekend!



During the Meiji era (1868 - 1912) a set of three story townhouses were constructed along Omotesando.  Retail establishments set up in spaces on the slightly-below-ground street level floor; residential apartments took up the upper stories.  With their balconies crowded with plants and their uniform facades, the buildings lent a grace and substance to the entire street.

When plans were made to raze them in the 'nineties and replace them with a modern mall, voices were raised in protest at the potential loss of this architectural treasure.  As a consequence, the developers incorporated a pair of the original townhouses into a revamped plan.  The others were torn down, and a sleek new low rise shopping space created in its place.

Although the Omotesando Hills Mall is celebrating its sixth anniversary in 2012, Lee had never been inside before -- and was COMPLETELY blown away when he ventured in as part of his Easter Sunday adventure!

From the outside, the mall maintains a three story presence (with a set of luxury apartments at the western edge of the structure).  Inside, however, the space extends two stories or more down into the ground with storefronts arrayed along long, sloping ramps from one level to the next. 

And how "high end" can you get?  Each shop exudes a jewel-box-like presence.  And even the Lawsons in the sub-basement provides comfy chairs in an adjacent courtyard for its customer's benefit!

Also at the lowest level there is a space set aside for sporadic activities of one sort or another.  Sunday these included a display of celebrity-decorated tote bags and a lively crafts fair.

Believe me when Lee says this was an Easter Sunday to remember, one celebrated in Tokyo at the height of the cherry blossom festival in the midst of a wonderfully creative, high energy urban environment that has lots to teach the rest of the world about "consumerism", retail architecture, fashion and style!