2002-03-18 - 2:56 p.m.
Over the past two weeks it has become very apparent -- in some uniquely Japanese ways -- that spring has sprung. Last Saturday in Tokyo the subway to the fashionable Daikanyama neighborhood was packed with hipsters who had shed their puffy parkas and refined pea coats for jean jackets. Outside the subway station, a half dozen fashion photographers waited with clipboards and cameras to take snapshots of stylish shoppers in their spring collections for young women’s magazines. And along the main strip, cafes set up outdoor tables for sipping $6 cappuccinos. I saw at least a dozen little dogs in sweaters, evidently brought out en mass from their winter hibernation at the first sign of warmth. Outside a shop that sold $80 t-shirts, there was a line ten people long.
The trains are now blanketed with ads for the impending bloom of the cherry blossoms -- or rather ads for weekend cherry blossom getaways, books about cherry blossoms, and alcohol to drink while sitting under the cherry blossoms. In Japan, the changing of the seasons is experienced with a palpable sense of nationally unified anticipation. And nothing means spring in Japan like the cherry blossoms. The tradition goes that when the blossoms bloom, people set up camp under the trees in the nearby parks and drink sake all day and into the night. Apparently, the parks get so crowded that some companies will send the youngest male employee out early in the morning (on a work day) to claim a prime spot -- and guard it all day -- until his coworkers come after work that evening.
And the overly abundant vending machines are going through their own seasonal change as well. Here, beverage vending machines display actual-sized illuminated plastic models of the drinks (rather that the 7-foot glowing Coke poster model favored in the U.S.). Drink machines offer both cold and hot drinks -- the majority of which are canned coffee and tea, but also include soda, water, corn soup and a sweet bean drink. Underneath each row of drinks is either a red stripe which says “atatakai,” (warm) or a blue stripe which says “tsumetai,” (cold). The ratio of cold to hot drinks changes with the seasons. Sure enough, this weekend most vending machines were down to only one red row of warm drinks.
