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Spring has finally come to Osaka and as an early herald of its arrival the plum trees are in full blossom. I like the plum blossom. It comes in stunning red, pink and white and means the main event of the cherry blossom is only weeks away.

The cherry blossom has mostly gone here in Osaka.　　There are a few brave stragglers refusing to die. But when the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom it was a glorious sight.

3,000 cherry blossom trees an hour away from my house and nobody told me?

via the novel Keeping Pace in Japan

I love cherry blossom time.

I went to Osaka castle park for a spot of cherry blossom viewing today. It was great. Thousands of people having fun in their own way. Bountiful obentos being eaten and happy chatter filled the air in the warm spring sun.

Osaka castle`s park is a very popular place to go for the viewing but on top of the things you`d expect, I saw a lot of things that took me by surprise. Amplifiers played a large part in it. Whether it was the old man with his karaoke machine singing along badly to Japanese folk songs or, in a far away corner of the park, a young guy with a set of decks hooked up to some large amplifiers under a blossoming tree.

There was a set of homeless guys playing Japanese chess in front of their makeshift tents complete with dog house and at another corner were just two youths next to an unnecessarily large stack of amps blaring out Sean Paul style reggae.

I`m not sure if they come out every week and this is the first time I`d seen them or if they were celebrating the cherry blossom in their own special way. The best thing was thousands of people having peaceful fun together.