さ：さくら

from season-basket.com

I soooo wish I was in Washington D.C right now for their annual National Cherry Blossom Festival!!! Next year (2012) marks 100 years from the time that the cherry blossom trees were gifted from Japan, so I am sure the celebrations will be spectacular next year.

The website describes the event like this:

“The epic 5-week spectacular, from March 20 – April 27, 2012, will unify and electrify the city, the nation, and the world. Washington, DC and the region will be abuzz with excitement. Creativity and innovation will permeate signature Festival events elevating them to new heights, and ground-breaking Centennial exhibitions and programming will amaze and delight. Timeless traditions. Rich culture. Renowned artists. World-class performers. The community at its best!”

I definitely want to go.

If you love cherry blossom/sakura trees but can’t make the trip, why don’t you plant a cherry blossom tree in your yard? I would love to plant one in our yard someday when I have a green thumb.

I have also been drooling over sakura-inspired food online. Take a look at these:

1) HUGE post about pretty sakura-inspired food at “She Who Eats” by Chika.

2) Sakura marshmallows at “Vanilla Garlic”.

3) Sakura-flavored Kit Kat bars. (Please, Nestle, bring them to the States…)

Things to do with kids:

1) Sakura coloring pages here and here.

2) Learn the words to the song “Sakura” here.

3) Sakura origami instructions here.

Website: Dora-world.com

from Wikipedia

My parents think that reading comic books helped my sisters and I learn Japanese when we were young. I remember reading Sailor Moon(セーラームーン), Chibi Marikochan(ちびまる子ちゃん), Rayearth(レイアース), and Doraemon(ドラエモン). (P.S. By the way, sisters, whoever has Sailor Moon and Rayearth, I bought those with my $ so I want them back!)

I think out of all of those comics, Doraemon is the most universally appealing series. It is geared towards both girls and boys, the storyline is easy to understand even if you haven’t lived in Japan, and unlike some other comics, you don’t have to buy multiple books to find out what happens in the end. I don’t think it has any “iffy” content that parents have to worry about. I think it is a great comic for elementary-aged children.

If you want to read Doraemon, you just have to click over to Dora-world.com’s comics section and you can read several interactive chapters for free! The website also has a lot of printable coloring pages, a “secret” fourth-dimension channel where you can watch short animated episodes, and probably more stuff if you click around. You can watch old episodes online:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-7808821290753999398&hl=en&fs=true

 

P.S. Have you seen the last episode of Doraemon?