Aoi

Aoi 「あおい、青い」 is the adjective for blue and green, and it was exactly what this day reminded me of.

A friend of ours took my husband and me, along with her grandson, to a very small tea factory about 45 minutes away. They specialize in traditional, hand picked and hand dried Japanese green tea 「お茶」 of exceptional quality. They produce really limited quantities, and in addition to their tea fields, they have a whole hillside covered in wisteria 「ふじ花」 that is open for visitors during the peak blooming season.

The air was amazingly fresh, since we were further in the mountains and right next to a small lake. It was sweet from the wisteria, with a hint of biter from the processing of the tea, and the sound of bees buzzing everywhere was actually a soothing hum. It was simply awesome.

And since it was nearly Golden Week (a series of five days of national holidays), which features Children's Day 「こどもの日」, you can see koi fish banners strung up around town, and even in the tea fields! They're actually one of my favorite symbols of spring in Japan, and if they weren't so damned expensive, I'd have bought the biggest ones you can find

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