Chidorigafuchi - Pink Haze

So far our Hanami experiences have been outstanding: the food and drink great, the blossoms sublime, the weather cooperative, and just enough people to make the occasion festive but not enough to be irritating, until Chidorigafuchi.

Chidorigafuchi is heralded as one of the best spots to see the cherry blossoms.  Saturday we found out why.  Technically Chidorigafuchi is a park situated on one of the moats surrounding the Imperial Palace.   It's also a national cemetery.  

We thought we'd be smart and take the Hibaya line to Hibaya station and walk from there. Not smart.  Chidorigafuchi is located at the furthest North-west point of the palace grounds.  It took 45 minutes to walk there with barely a cherry blossom in sight.  I did notice, however, there were actually cherry trees but they weren't in bloom yet.  Note to self: maybe good for later in the season.

And then we turned the corner and saw the tell tell signs of pink clouds in the distance, and the line.  There must have been a million people there, easy.  It was crazy crowded and we hadn't actually crossed over to Chidorigafuchi yet.  We were still around the Imperial Palace.

We kept noticing people on the opposite side of the street, walking along the ridge line and taking pictures. We wondered what they were looking at.  There were no crosswalks to cross the street and traffic was worse than a Madonna concert, so we had to keep going until we finally reached the furthest corner of the Palace grounds.

Ok, this is nice.  But what's all the fuss about?

This is pretty too.

I especially love the bamboo fence line.

And then we crossed the street and beheld what everybody was looking at.  Oh, now I get it.  Wow!

Wow!

There were no tarps laid out under the cherry trees.  That was not allowed.  There was no room for Hanami here.  There were just hundreds of thousands of Japanese, armed with cameras, stopping every few feet to take another shot of the glorious sakura-scape.   The trees had industrial strength lights beneath them, so clearly the place was a spot for Yozakura (night viewing).  It must be spectacular.  I have to admit, even in the daylight it was dreamy.  

Soon we succumbed into a blossom-addicted stupor.  Soon we plodded along, zombie like, shuffling slowly, monotonously with the crowd, shoulders touching strangers, ambling towards the metro station.  It took an hour to get there.  But we were so overcome by the majesty of the view, we hardly noticed.  "This is good stuff, really good stuff" we mumbled over and over, like the sakura crack addicts we had become.

Caution - addictive.

Take another look at your own risk.

We needed food and neon lights to shock us out of our chimera.  So of course we headed to the Ginza, thinking it wouldn't be crowded because clearly everybody in Tokyo was here.  Apparently not everybody.  

The Ginza was crowded as ever.  After we did the gaijin dining shuffle, that is, walk into as many restaurants as necessary until one of them finally agreed to serve us, we dined on a set menu of sushi.  It was good.  I've never had sushi in Tokyo that wasn't superb.  The Suntory Highball helped aid our digestion.

Then we walked around the Ginza for a while in a daze.  Easter was that Sunday and we were hoping to find an Easter basket, or at the very least, a couple of chocolate eggs.  The Japanese don't celebrate Easter, certainly not the religious kind, but they usually observe the capitalistic kind.  I had spotted an Easter basket almost a month ago at a candy/bakery in Ebisu, but like everything else in Tokyo, it's seasonal and gone quickly.  I saw Valentine's chocolates at the end of January, when I went back two weeks later, they were already gone.  

We were starting to get dejected, coming down roughly from the sakura high.  The jonesing had begun.  I guess the Easter bunny wouldn't be coming to our house this year.  Sigh.

And then we saw it. 

I had to blink twice to see if it was really true.  Could it be? Could it be?

No way!

There is a God!

See's Candies!!!!  I heard a rumor there was a store in Tokyo somewhere but I didn't really believe it, the same way I heard there were 15 kinds of Kit Kats, but I've only seen about six.  

But there it was, and more importantly, it was open.  We rushed inside.  I was so excited.  

They gave us a sample, like they do in the states.  They had Easter themed candies, pre-made boxes and fresh pieces you could select out of the case, just like in California.  They didn't carry all the pieces but a lot of my favorites were there, except marzipan.  That's ok. I can work with this.

We bought two chocolate bunnies (milk chocolate for Russell, dark for me) and a one half pound custom box of chocolates.  It was going to be a great Easter and it only cost $65 USD.   $65 USD!!!!!  That's at least three times the cost in the states.  Yikes! I suddenly felt guilty spending that much money on chocolate.

"Of course it is," Russell stated matter-of-factly, "they flew them in this morning."

"First class, apparently," I muttered, the shock melting away to a deliriously happy smile as he handed me the precious, expensive bag.  

Easter heaven