It snowed yesterday, cancelling our plans for hanami, a cherry blossom viewing party, at Koishikawa Botanical Garden.

But the unseasonably chilly weather taught me two new Japanese phrases. “Hana bie” means chilly spring weather (hana is flower and bie is chill), and “botan yuki” describes yesterday’s big-flake spring snow (botan is a peony; yuki means snow). Posted by kuri at April 01, 2001 06:42 AM