Death By Strawberry (and Cherry)

Today I traveled in a Japanese tourist group with some of my colleagues. My main goal for today was to see Sakura trees for the first time. Actually, it's funny to be part in such a group. Stereotypically, Japanese groups are considered to be loud and making photos everywhere. But I learned that's not true.

We started from Yokohama in a bus and went some hours to our first station: A strawberry green house. When I thought about the things I could do in Japan, this was actually not on my list :D

Healthy Start in the Day

The strawberries were already big and most of them were even red. But something important was missing: The smell. Only a few had this characteristic smell of a ripe strawberry. But still, it was awesome to start the day with a belly full of strawberries. If you calculate the price of the tour and compare it to the usual price of strawberries in Japan, we made a really good deal :)

Feels like summer in here ^^

By the way, the typical way to eat strawberry in Japan is with condensed milk, as I was told. So everyone got a plastic bowl for the garbage and the milk. Maybe the milk is also necessary, because many strawberries didn't had much taste, as I said. After eating dozens of them, I don't want to eat strawberries for a few months anymore ;)

Not bad for April ;)

Afterwards we went to the next station to eat lunch oO
I don't understand why they put the schedule that way, because everyone was still full from the strawberries. But I already paid for it, so I ate a lot from the buffet :D

The tour group and guide in front

After eating enough for 3 days, we had to do some exercise. So we went to a cable train station which led us straight on top of a mountain. I wish they had something like this for Mount Fuji too :D

Anway, I was also lucky to get the chance to talk to our tour guide in the cable train. Okay it wasn't more than a chit-chat but still an opportunity to speak Japanese ^^
From the top we had a great view over the whole area. Because it was a sunny weather, many other people were already there.

Kind of creepy, isn't it?

On our way down, we discovered something I still cannot explain. When we looked down on a field, we saw something that looked like a corpse from a homicide scene. There seemed to be also something standing by. After a few seconds of confusion, we realized that these things had to be scarecrows. As in most countries, in Japanese fields (e.g. for vegetables) there are scarecrows. But these ones seems to be exceptional, even for Japan. Maybe it's more for the people passing over the field than the animals?

Blossoms of the oldest Sakura tree in the city
actually all the other trees there are the descendants from this one

Then we finally came to 河津 (Kawazu) to watch the Sakura trees. For those of you who don't know: Viewing the Sakura trees is called 花見 (Hanami) and is a very old tradition in Japan. Nowadays, you usually meet with friends, family, etc. at beautiful spots for watching Sakura trees while drinking and eating. It's also special because the trees are blooming just for about two weeks. Well, if you have time to travel through the country, you can watch Hanami from April (South) to May (North) ^^

Alley of Sakura

And the view in this town was absolutely awesome :)
Most of the trees were alongside the river which went besides the city. So we walked through a long alley of Sakura trees. Within the alley were many booths with food, drinks and so on. So it felt like one of the traditional festivals in Japan. I will definitely come again someday :)

Definitely a Good Time for Sports :)

Find the Bird in this Picture :D

In this direction you can see Mt. Fuji .... well it should be that way :D

I really thought about buying Wasabi (the plant in the center)

Well, there is no too much Sakura ;)

They actually made roasted maroons and they had to do this from time to time.
But don't ask me why, somehow they had to relieve pressure from their machine.

This Mochi is actually made with Sakura :)
It tasted sweet, but there was also another taste. Maybe now I know how Sakura tastes :D

Everyone got these 2 beers after the tour for free.
That's what I call service :)