Festival Special 9: Haru Matsuri

w00t it's spring! And when you talk about spring in Japan, there's only one thing that SPRINGS into mind: Sakura! Ah eh oh come and dance with me, deng deng dengen dengen deng deng deng...

A number of parks are great for hanami (flower viewing), but only a select few have an attached festival to it, and one of 'em is Ueno Park.

Last Friday I went there by myself (yea pathetic, meknows). Been working my ass off on the game production side of things, so I thought it'll be nice to go out once in a while. I mean, I'm in Tokyo, for crying out loud!

Then just today, I went there again with my cousins, coz it was just too darn festive to not go the second time! So I mixed the pictures taken on both of these days in the list below. I'm not the type who changes clothes during a festival.



Wearing a suit while sitting below the Sakura trees. Howzzat for a company meeting?



Some people stuffing themselves festively while enjoying the view. What view, you ask?



This view! Ah, nothing like a huge body of water to calm yourself down.



The peace was nice while it lasted. Now it's time for war! War for foodz!



Suddenly it felt like I was brought back to the Matsushita stadium in Shah Alam.



Here, the fish are performing the enchanting vertical dance ritual.



Ah sotong. How I love thee.



Here, they sell the must-have Takoyaki, or octopus balls. Argh screw the flour, can I just grab the whole thing and put it in my mouth?



Mmmmm taiyaki. They put in some lovely paste inside the fish-shaped flour, which came in 4 flavours: red bean, chocolate, cheese and cream.



Some other customers I saw at the stall.



Here's some yong tau foo oden. Didn't bother to buy them coz you can tarpau 'em at 7-Eleven.



This is Manhome's butter potato. Can't beat the Neo-Venezian one for sure (sorry non-Aria fans)



And this is my favourite of the bunch. The sotong that came from the heavens.



KLCC potato swirly. Buy one free one!



Heheh hehehe heheeheheh (they're chocolate-crusted bananas) heheheheh hehe *giggle*



They didn't have the caramel apple candy, but they had caramel any-other-fruit candy. Strange desu ne.



Lemonade, or Ramune. 300 yen for each bottle, and they give you 100 yen back for its return.



Enough of looking, now it's time to savour the spoils of war!



It's strange how you can look so cool with that power hairstyle and sunglasses...



...and look sorhai at the same time.



Daim really got into eating his candied pineapple.



This is my wtf-such-a-big-case-for-a-pathetic-looking-chicken-stick face.



Nothing like enjoying the view while eating ABC kakigoori. You are given the shaved ice and can pour fruit syrup as much as you want. So imagine Daim's reaction when he said "Grape please" and was given plain ice. "Anooo~"



Just watch any festival episode of an anime series (yes, the one right after the hot springs and before the beach trip) and you'll know what this is. It's called Kingyo sukui, or goldfish scooping. With a scoop that tears easily with pressure, you have to scoop up as many goldfish as you can, and that'll be your take-home reward.



Another festival favourite. The gun packed quite a punch, but it's still not enough sometimes to make the prize topple down. You gotta aim carefully too.



Or you can be like Konata and aim for the handsome shopkeeper.



Uh, KL Central Market much?



When there's a beautiful park in Japan, chances are that it shares with the temple grounds.



So here I am at a dating spot... with my... two cousins...



Selamat datang ke Terengganu, di mana anda boleh melawat beberapa kampung nelayan macam ini. Jangan lupa, ada angsa terbesar di dunia kat sini juga! Dalam pelbagai warna!



Of course when people talk about Ueno park, they think about the two extremely long rows of Sakura trees lined up beside the path.



During hanami, you can laze around, let your guard go and drink beer on makeshift tables.



Even with all that drunkenness, they still have the civic-mindedness to recycle stuff.



Humans have it so easy, ducks must fight for their grub man!



The sun is about to set. Better go home... (or to Akihabara!)



Will definitely come here again with my classmates for Hanami, but that'll be a post for another day. Happy springtime folks!