Our group at the TokyoGaijins ohanami meet
This is probably on the order of 1/3 of the people who were at the ohanami meeting at the time of the photo (it was taken early and not everybody was there yet). You can see me on the left side talking with Emiko-san.. She speaks great english, and is a pretty interesting person in general^^
The girl in the white jacket sitting behind me, and looking over her shoulder is the friend I was actually meeting before I knew about the ohanami meeting, her name is Kaori-san. To the right of her (but hard to see because of Emiko-san) is her best friend that she brought along. The girl to the right of Emiko-san got SOOO drunk at ohanami, she would crawl up to random ppl and put her head on their laps to nap. Cute^^
In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol... ... read more 
