Cherry Blossoms, 2012
 

Not the ones in Japan, the 3000 trees given to Washington D.C. by Japan. 100 yrs ago this year.

The blooms are predicted to peak sometime between March 24 and March 31.

D.C., in its wisdom, has a great, and very Japanese, festival to cooincide w/the blooming, except that the festival runs for an entire month. That way the peak blooms will come at some point in the festival. The festival this yr runs from March 20 to April 27.

I predictt the peak blooming day will be March 30, to coincide w/my birthday and mrwunrfl's birthday on the same day. I am taking bets.

(Also taking bets on guesses re how old I will be this yr and how old Bill will be.)

Well I just saw Bill in Tokyo this past November and am guessing he will be right around 2 years older than dirt this year ;)

Aloha!

Hawaii, I guess I should be glad we have not met yet, lol.

Gee, if mrwunrfl is two years older than dirt, I'm probably dirt's mother...;-)
How fun to have a joint Fodorite birthday. :) I'll try to remember to drink a toast to you two - I'll be in Fukuoka then.

Mare, make it with some really good sake.

I wish we could have a birthday GTG in Fukuoka. When my son was younger, he said he liked that city because it was the only time he got to say Fuku in our house without gettting scolded (although of course that is not how the name is pronounced). He also liked that the airport code is FUK. Teenage boys.

We looked at going there once when we were planning a return trip to Japan. He wanted to go to the restaurant that has the boat surrounded by water and fish inside the restaurant, and you can fish for your meal (Google "Zoou," first post).

Just teasing Bill as he teases me about Linda being too young for me.

emd, funny story about your son and Fukuoka. Are you and your DH planning a trip to Japan soon?

Mara, END OF THE MONTH! WOW already? Maizuru Park is the place to be in Fukuoka for cherry blossoms. We also liked the walk down the canal area with lots of small parks and lots of cherry blossoms along the canal. Oh your going to be back in Japan during my favorite time of the year there and I am extremely jealous......have fun!!

Aloha!

Not sure, hawaii. We may go on safari to Tanzania, that is looking very appealing. But we will get to Japan together at some point in the next two years.

ht, yes, already, doesn't time fly? I think I might be a wee bit too early though for optimal sakura viewing but I'm sure I'll manage to have a great time anyway....

emd3 - a former co-worker and I used to laugh at the pronunciation of Phuket in Thailand all the time and we were quite far from teenagers... ;-)
Tanzania....could it be better than Japan?

well, it does have more animals in the wild I think

emd3, lol.....

but Japan does have those snow monkeys.

I hope I didn't offend mrw w/this post. (Happy upcoming birthday to you!) Will think of you all when I go to the D.C. Cherry Blossom festival and hear the kotos and kugos playing and the Taiko drummers and eat the sticky pork buns.

(As an aside, I went to the Van Gogh exhibition at the Phildelphia Art Museum this week. I didn't realize how much Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese art. There was a very nice section of woodprints by Hiroshige, etc. as a part of the exhibit. Also went to the Philly Flower Show, and there was an extensive bonsai exhibit there, so this turned into a mini-Japan event for my daughter and I.)