It's cherry blossom season now. Cherry blossoms are called "Sakura" in Japanese. They are only in bloom for about two weeks, so I took some pictures before they are all gone. It's quite a short window of opportunity every year, and many Japanese people take time off to travel to sakura gardens, as it is quite beautiful. This tree happens to be at the bottom of the hill in our neighborhood. Sakura trees are all over Japan, but I didn't really notice until now. The White House has Cherry Blossoms, I think. I wonder why?
I think soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Probably the only place it is not popular is in America, I imagine. I could be wrong, but nevertheless it is very popular in Japan. So my roommates planned a trip to a soccer game. S-Pulse is the name of the team for Shimizu, which is like an area of the Shizuoka prefecture, or something like that.
It was really fun. The biggest difference in spectation is the cheering. Fans for each team have a series of cheers that they preform during the game in unison. There is even a cheer leader that stands in the bleachers and leads the cheers. (not to be confused with the cheerleaders, who were the women on the field). If there is any testament to the state of Japanese group oriented society it has to be their cheering. I took a video. This is only one of maybe 10 or so cheers that we did. ....everyone knows them all!?
