The Annual Hanami BBQ - Sunshine, smiles and satisfied stomachs

Where's the meat?

Last Sunday was Luna's annual hanami BBQ party along the Susugi river bank and what a blast it was! The sun was out, the cherry blossoms were almost in full bloom and we got to share the whole experience with a host of our students, families, friends as well as the teachers from Sasabe kindergarten. Even Damian's mum made a flying visit to join in with the festivities! It was great to see some many familiar, and some not so familiar, faces all gathered together to have a great time.

That's more like it!

Lots of our wonderful guests brought along something to share with the rest of the party goers. An excellent effort made by all. Fortunately everybody remembered to bring their appetites with them. It was quite the sight seeing all the different dishes from the classics sausages to Sri Lankan and Moroccan style dishes and of course the imperative Japanese BBQ food: the onigiri and the oinari san. We at Luna however like to take the traditional, let's say British, way of hosting a BBQ. Lots and lots of meat and hold the salad! And boy did we deliver. There was always something on the BBQ from start to finish (a special thanks to all those who helped cook all of the delicious food) and the air was filled with a fantastic aroma all day long. Everybody was left stuffed, satisfied and possibly slightly guilty from devouring such a feast.

Everybody tucking in

Whilst the adults were busy  responsible with BBQ tending and beer drinking duty, the children were enjoying themselves by running around and collecting cherry blossoms, making their own "flower pots" in paper cups and soaking Damian sensei with their water pistols! Luckily for them Damian sensei was far too full from his 20 portions of sausages and drumsticks to waddle after them. Maybe it would be a good idea to bring a lasso next time to round up the mischievous trouble makers.

Many thanks to all our fabulous guests for making this such a joyous and memorable event, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!  We look forward to hosting you all again next year!

Damian Gowland

Those Ohanami pics - with music!

Luna's 2012 Ohanami BBQ

Luna's 2012 Ohanami BBQ, a set on Flickr.

Well, I had a great time (until the hay fever attacked me). It was so good to see so many students past and present come and join us for a lazy afternnon by the river!

I was delighted Soichi could drop by & say hi - I used to teach him back in 1990! Anna-chan I taught when she was in elementary school, now asking about mummy & kids classes with her little sisters! Do I feel old?!

Yuki-chan couldn't eat anything because everyone wanted to catch up with her - meantime all the children ran themselves into the ground exploring river & rocks...one or two grazed knees!

Yet again we were blessed with lovely weather, a mountain of food and a small lake of ale. I hope everyone had enough?

Thank you all for coming, for sharing a great day out with us and for making it feel like spring has finally arrived :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ppTu2UEMM&feature=youtube_gdata

White Cherry Blossom?!

My daughter woke me up asking me if we could make a snowman; I thought I must be still dreaming!  It was trying to snow last night, but I didn't expect to see a two inch carpet of the stuff Saturday morning! To Ohanami, or not to ohanami?

With my expert weather eye, I figured the sun would come out & give us a proper afternoon of blue skies if not warmth. No need for a cooler - put the beers in the snow! I later heard this was the latest we've had snow here for 41 years.

Fortunately, with everyone umming and arring about the weather, the charcoal was glowing nicely before called into action. Tana & I had time to enjoy a quiet drink & get organised. The blanket of snow at 11am had disappeared by 12.30, and quickly melted on the hillsides as well.

Eventually friends and students, children and oldies found us (our usual spot was a bit boggy) and in no time at all there were kids large & small running around, climbing walls & sliding down embankments, and throwing snowballs into the river. Badminton rackets found new uses as snow scoops!

It was nice to have a very 'family' kind of party today; not too crowded on the riverbank and not too hot. In fact, just right. Thanks all for a great afternoon - sunburnt & full of great barbecued lamb, chicken, pineapple, garlic, mushrooms etc. And lashings of ale? In good measure, yes, of course :)

Cherry Blossom Party

Mercifully the weather behaved itself and we could enjoy ourselves by the Susuki River once again. The drizzle did come later as forecast, but by then the lightweights had already gone home!

We had a really good turn out, as you can see from the photos, and were joined by the Yokoso Matsumoto group who got their BBQ going next to ours. A good deal of mingling meant that new friendships were made and old ones rekindled. Darryl, for example, met Mine again, whom he used to teach with many moons ago. Mark came along with his wife & son - we`d not met for the best part of a decade!

There was a definite feeling of "the next generation" to the BBQ/picnic - a positive baby-rash actually, showing that we, the expat community are doing our bit to reverse the demographic trend. It was great to see some of our friends' children for the first time, and for them to interact with each other. Others have shot up since we last saw them.

Highlights of the day included Phil's son trying to get a noise out of a didgeridoo; the Vietnamese lads mine-sweeping remorselessly; Tana chatting up all the single Shindai boys; Milton bringing a carpet; Jim & Rupert explaining the hardships of fatherhood to a rather deaf audience. And I must mention 'little' Yuki, who I've not seen for about 8 years - she lives in Nagano now after a couple of years in Singapore. Now a mature, charming & very-well spoken HS girl - another reminder, if I needed one this weekend, of the aging process!

Thank you to everyone who came, who took a turn burning stuff on the barbie, contributed food & drink & charcoal. A lovely afternoon - so let's do it again soon?!

Cherry Blosson party - join us!