Happy vernal equinox and asebi blooming

Happy Vernal Equinox, wherever you are in Japan or the northern hemisphere! The national holiday, 春分の日 Shunbun no Hi, falls on a Friday in 2026, so we get a long weekend. The holiday is also 彼岸 higan, an equinoctial remembrance of ancestors.

Today's weather is "dreitch", as my Scottish family and I are prone to say when the weather is cold and dreary. The rain will let up tomorrow. We'll see sunny skies and experience warmer temperatures on Saturday and Sunday.

A little relief is the アセビ (asebi), Japanese andromeda, blooming. On a stroll around Saitama Shintoshin Station environs, I spied this asebi with cascading pink blooms.

It looks like tomorrow, Saturday, March 21st, will be a good day for laundry in most of Japan.