A sharing by Ling Sing Lin
Wisteria Festival
Most people visiting Japan in spring will opt to see the cherry blossom. I, on the other hand, was seduced by a video of the Wisteria Festival, which takes place from mid-April to mid-May in Ashikaga Park, which is one and a half hours from Tokyo. The whole park is planted with wisteria trees, the oldest being 160 years old. There are four colours of wisteria — purple, white, pink and yellow. The park is truly stunning and breathtaking. It can also be described as having a fairy tale or an ethereal appearance.
Furoshiki Art
This is the Japanese art of wrapping gifts with cloth, or tying the cloth into a bag to carry groceries or a bento box lunch, to carry clothes to the public bath or onsen.
The cloth can double as a scarf. You can return the cloth to the gift-giver, or it can form part of the gift. The cloth is square in shape, and usually comes in one of three sizes, 50 by 50 cm, 70 by 70 cm or 90 by 90 cm.
We enjoyed a Furoshiki workshop where we were guided to tie the cloth into four different styles.
Food, Glorious Food
As lovers of Japanese cuisine, we were totally spoiled, by the best tempura we have ever tasted, omakase sushi (at the sushi chef’s fancy) in a sushi empire, multiple courses of kaiseki, wagyu beef/seafood teppanyaki, yuba tofu lunch in a specialty eatery (see picture below), gourmet kushiage (deep fried but non oily skewers) of seasonal ingredients, and a unagi specialty restaurant.
Retail Therapy
This was more than satisfied at the traditional Japanese stores selling Japanese pickles, Dashi sauce, mochi snacks, etc. The Japanese craft stores sell a wide range of goods. And of course we were in shopping heaven in the shopping districts of Ginza and Shinjuku.
My usual resolve of no shopping (and more culling) was abandoned.
It was a short but memorable holiday with a small group of friends, as part of our medical class reunion.
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
