Sakuranbo Gari / Fourth of July

Sakuranbo Gari (Cherry Picking)

I signed up for what I thought was a cherry festival. I thought there was a festival along with a trip to the Asahi Brewery in Fukushima (about 2 hours away). I later found out in Japanese class that sakuranbo gari means cherry picking. And that is just what is was. We were bussed for two hours to pick and eat as many as you could in about 1/2 hour. They also had containers that you could fill and take home - for about 2500 yen ($25 per pound). Needless to say, we ate as many as we could and passed on the extra cherry purchase. We were then bussed to the brewery for a tour and lunch and then back home. It was fun... but a little more 'bus-fun' than we expected.


Elin and her 'no drinking allowed' badge. This was a Honda event so they tried to make sure there were designated drivers. In Japan drinking and driving is a serious offense. If you get caught, the first person they call is typically your boss. Work and home life are not separated like in the states. It is a little weird, but your job is a huge part of your life. When we got back to our car at the end of the day, Elin had to take a breathalyzer test before we could drive away. Dot the i's, cross the t's. Amazing. The guy messed up and told her to blow for 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds.





Savannah and I on the bus. They gave each child a bag of snack food. They more healthy stuff that we brought immediately had noses turned up at it after they got their snacks.

The family at the rest stop. We were technically allowed to drink beer on the bus - WHICH I DID NOT KNOW. I searched the rest stop for beer but failed.

Scenery along the main highway we were on.

We had three buses of people. When we got there, we got off and were herded up this little road to the cherry trees. They are completely netted in so the birds can't get to the cherries.

Savannah on one of the ladders. There were many ladders so you could get up to the top branches. Savannah told us this is where the best cherries were.

Bamboo forest near the cherry trees. This was near the port-a-potty that I had to take Denny to. He tends to wait until the very last minute to clue us in on his bathroom needs.

For those of you who know what the squatter toilets are, this port-a-potty was a squatter with no bar to hang onto. Not sure how you work that one. I took a picture, but thought it would be best to keep that one to myself.

Picture of one of the branches with cherries on it. This was nothing special... they all looked like this. When we entered the netted area, it was a little like entering Willie Wonka's factory. If you remember the scene when they were eating all of the candy from the ground, trees, chocolate river, etc. It was a little like that. Pick and eat... spit you pits on the ground and pick again.

Denny at the cherry trees.

Rice fields on our way to the brewery. Everything is really green right now. There is rice everywhere.

The kids talked to two older girls on the bus. They took to Denny and Savannah immediately. They were trying out their English skills on Denny and Savannah. There parents also spoke very good English.

Denny (AKA Chick Magnet) strikes again.

Picture from inside the brewery. Surprisingly, there were not a lot of photo ops. More of an information sharing session. Unfortunately, we didn't understand 97% of what they were saying.

This was our lunch - yakiniku (grilled meat and vegetables). They also had onigiri (rice formed in hand held triangles). We think there was beef, then pork and then mutton. There was a noticeable taste difference with the mutton. People say deer is gamy but I think sheep have a much stronger taste.

Shot of the brewery as we were going up the on ramp on our way home. At the brewery, they gave everyone three glasses of beer. I learned that Asahi makes a stout. I had one lager, one stout and one black and tan. I liked the stout best. They said it is sold in stores so I have to look for it. Mmmmmm beer.

They also gave us little smoked cheeses. Real cheese is super-hard to find here. Processed cheese... not so hard. Elin's sensei went to Costco and brought us 9 pounds of cheese back. We have been eating cheese on everything. Anyway, the smoked cheese was so good, we bought the 3 different cheese sampler for 1250 yen total ($12.50).

Fourth of July - Elin mentioned that she was going to pick up fireworks at the hyaku yen shop. I had the same plan. I didn't hear about her actually buying any so I went up to the store and bought four packages of sparklers (maybe 30 in each package with an extra glow in the dark bracelet). I was hoping the neighbor kids would come over. Later I found out Elin had already bought fireworks so we were set.

Elin with her ume chu-hi. Ume is a fruit that looks like an apple, but we are told it isn't. Shochu is a liquor that is popular here. I am not sure what it is made of, but it has about 25% alcohol. The chu-hi runs about 6-8% alcohol so it will creep up on you.

Nothing says America like liquor and fireworks - yeeeee haw!

Savannah was afraid the cops would come. I wasn't sure how far we could take the fireworks thing so the cops crossed my mind a few times as well.

I realized later that I took mostly movies instead of pictures. I added a few below.

Asahi Brewery - Canning area

Denny lighting a sparkler. Bravery unparalleled since the earthquake heroics when he went into the fetal position on the couch.

Savannah with a sparkler.

Elin trying to light fireworks. I stress the word 'trying'.

Kids with their glow bracelets