March event: Aichi Hanami!

It's too late to update but we did this in March!
Now we are planning April and May events.
Please wait for more information.

Yoroshiku Ne!

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Hello there again!

Just one more quick announcement about the fantastic Hanami on in Nagoya tomorrow! For those who haven't gone before, it can be a little daunting trying to find the AJET spot amongst the numerous hanami goers in the somewhat ginormous Tsurumai Park...

Soooo.. for those interested let's head on over together! Come and meet up with Matsunami and a few other friendly Gifu AJET members at JR Gifu Station at 12:00 tomorrow (Saturday) in front of the TICKET GATES.

If you're planning on coming to hanami, but can't make the 12:00 meeting time in Gifu, feel free to give us a call for directions! We should be arriving at the hanami site around 13:00, so if you contact us anytime afterwards we should be able to help you navigate the park ;)

Hope to see you there!

Your Gifu AJET Family,

[Brian, Chisako, Chris, Danielle, Emi, Erin, Ernest, Joel, Kuni, Mami, Matsunami, Misako, Nicole, Rachel, Robert, and Steve]

http://gifuajet.blogspot.com/


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(Previous E-mail)


Greetings to all of you Gifu ladies and gents!

Hanami - it's not just any ordinary picnic!

We wanted to remind you that the annual Aichi AJET Hanami event in Nagoya is coming up THIS SATURDAY! (The second Hanami event is tentatively planned for Sunday, April 5th.) We officially promote this event every year, and hope that Gifu will make another great showing in 2009!

Afterall, who can resist the outdoors, beautiful cherry blossoms, eating in a park, imbibing various liquids, and hanging out with such a great crew of people?!! AAJET Hanami is always a must-attend event. As in years past, we recommend you bring a bento and any beverages of choice, and come join this classical Japanese spring pastime.

Check out the email Nicholas sent out to Gifujets for details (below) . ; )

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Hey ya'll this is Nicholas. I provide Social Lubrication for Aichi AJET. I just wanted to let everyone know what our hanami plans are! I copied this from our forum, so I don't know how the formatting will turn out, but hopefully it's not unreadable.

So you've seen a bunch of people running around naked at Hadaka-matsuri, you've seen a huge wooden cock rammed into the vagina shrine in Komaki, but have you popped your cherryblossomcherry yet?

Not if you came this year.

It's time for 花見!

Hanami literally means 'flower-watching' and started somewhere around the 8th Century. People used to enjoy writing seasonal poems about the beauty of the flowers, but today's sentiments can be summed up in the popular phrase '花より'c子’ : hana yori dango, which roughly means that the enjoyment of the flowers is trumped by the enjoyment of the day's refreshments.

I apologize for posting this only 2 weeks before the event, but you never know when those goddamned flowers will show us their pinkness. This year's sakura-viewing will be on two consecutive Wii-kends:

#1 Tsurumai

The first event will be held on Saturday, March 28th, whenever you feel like showing up. Tsurumai will be filled with revelers all day long, so please come at your convenience. We'll try to cop a squat at the same location as last year, but up to the minute information about our locale can be obtained by calling someone on your AAJET team (Nicholas, Roy, Deanna, etc...) on the day of the event. I'll try to post a map later. Billimack, Tom (right? RIGHT?!?), and I will be crashing near the park the night before and going early to secure a spot and, more importantly, to ensure that fun will be had for even the earliest of arrivers. Take the JR Chuo line or the Nagoya City Subway Tsurumai Line to Tsurumai station. You shouldn't have a problem finding the park from there.

So that's:
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
Tsuruma Park
ANYTIME


#2 Okazaki

The second AAJET viewing will be on Sunday, April 5th, coinciding with Ieyasu Gyoretsu, celebrating the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu. About 1000 people dressed in samurai-garb (a few on horseback), will be marching through Okazaki town by the river. Okazaki can be reached via Meitetsu Higashi Okazaki station. From there it's a short walk. It will be in the same area as the Welcome BBQ we had in August.

If any Okazaki-ites would be willing to help me get this set up, please send me a mail. I'll be needing a place to crash the night before (should I be setting up 2 nights before?), some help deciding the best place to be setting up, as well as some festival information to make this the best Okazaki hanami possible.

Tentatively:
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Okazaki city, by the river?
ANYTIME



Both of these events will be open to anyone you would like to bring, including but not limited to JTE's, family members, friends, enemies, and members of the armed forces of any country. As far as hanami is concerned, more people = more fun.

Directions, a cooler full of softdrinks, and light snacks will be provided by Aichi AJET. Anything else you would like is up to you to bring!


Your Gifu AJET Family,

[Brian, Chisako, Chris, Danielle, Emi, Erin, Ernest, Joel, Kuni, Mami, Matsunami, Misako, Nicole, Rachel, Robert, and Steve]

http://gifuajet.blogspot.com/