IT'S CHERRY PINK & BLOSSOMS WHITE

This time the blooms are for real. I was geocaching in Ueno Park on Wednesday and the place was swarming with people. It was the school holidays apparently and families parked themselves on the ground under the cherry trees. Tarps had been laid out and cordoned off so that people still had a path to walk through. Temporary bins had been set up as well.

A young man in business suit sat alone on a tarp. It seems offices send out these probably low-ranked staff to "chope" spots for office picnics under the sakuras. Such picnics are called hanami. The young chap sidled out of my camera frame when he noticed I was taking photos!

I was tempted to visit the Da Vinci exhibition nearby, but no time, no time!!!

But it was the cherry trees at Zojoji Temple that were the most breathtaking to me. Set against the backdrop of tiered roofs and the brilliant red temple gates, the scenery was so apt. Again, I was there on a geocache hunt. Office workers hurried to the site to catch this bell-ringer slam a giant log against a huge bell under a pavillion.

The branches of the cherry trees were much lower, so I could get good close-ups. Perched on a hill in the background was the imposing Tokyo Tower (where another geocache was hidden but is now suspected to be lost. The owner hasn't commented on the many posts put up by geocachers on the website.)

But my most bizarre hanami encounter must be here - at the Aoyama Cemetery. Again, I have to thank geocaching for that. I was there looking for the grave of a professor and his faithful dog (more on that later). The sun was setting at 5.30pm, but I was surprised to see people walking through the cemetery. Short cut to somewhere, I thought...

Until I saw a bunch of people in office wear drinking beer and munching on snacks, tarpaulin laid out under them! At another spot, another lowly office peon was waiting for his colleagues to arrive. He had cans of beer at the ready on the ground. And a pair of ang moh women asked him what he was doing. He couldn't speak much English (many of them can't), but he said "cherry blossom".

Itinerant hawkers know when to cash in on a good thing and they parked themselves along the only road leading into the cemetery. I was tempted to take a seat at the stall selling something hot, but I had more geocaching to do - even in the dark!