At last, it feels like spring is here. It was a warm bright day today, so we took the day off to enjoy the ume blossom. Ume is usually translated into English as "plum", but it's not really a plum as eaten in the West - in fact it is more of an apricot, and the fruit are small, hard and bitter, often eaten as a sour pickle (umeboshi).We also heard some Japanese nightingales singing today for the first time this year. I didn't realise they were traditionally associated with ume blossom until reading the Wikipedia pages.
Apparently the Japan Meterological Agency is thinking of officially naming the recent bad weather "Heisei 18 Heavy Snow" (Heisei 18 is 2006, in the Japanese naming system - the 18th year of the current Emperor's reign). It's been the worst winter in decades. There's more snow forecast tomorrow, but warmer weather should be just around the corner.
1 comment:
Glad you've got some Spring. We had early snow slowly turning into cold rain today :-(
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