Sakura Drops

When I visited Tokyo and Kyoto several years ago, I had hoped to be able to see cherry blossoms since they were supposed to be in season at the time. Unfortunately, it rained heavily in Tokyo the week before I arrived and all the flowers had been washed away. The only blooming cherry tree I saw was in Disneyland in front of the Toontown ride, which is hardly an arboreally picturesque location in any sense.

This time round I was hoping against hope that the wave of cherry blossoms sweeping northwards throughout the country wouldn't arrive in my town until I returned from Australia. Luckily for me, there was apparently a cold snap while I was gone, and one day in March where there was a freak snowfall, which helped to delay the sakura until shortly after I came back.

Contrary to what I was told, the flowers don't just burst onto the scene all of a sudden. It actually took about a week or so for them to fully bloom, and it was really nice to see the fluffy pink clusters gradually creep up upon the branches. As I write this the flowers are just about to hit full bloom, and everywhere in my town you can see trees completely draped in pale pink standing stark against their greener cousins.

One of the best places to take a walk under the cherry blossoms in my town is the Midorigaoka Park, a nice patch of green in the middle of the city, complete with pavilions, bridges, a small river and even a lake for people to fish in. The last time I took a walk there was in winter, when I wanted to see what it looked like before spring repopulated the place with leaves and flowers.

Cold and colourless, or quiet and peaceful, whichever way you look at it. The river in the picture is actually flanked by cherry trees on both sides which means it's quite a sight to behold in April.

The locals see this every year, so they're probably used to it, but it's totally different for someone who's only ever seen them in films or anime and never seen the real thing up close. The pictures here don't do the actual place justice; seeing an entire stretch of road swathed in pink really takes your breath away.


Plum is in season too, and there was a whole section of the park devoted to plum trees. Plum blossoms come in many different shapes and colours as compared to sakura, but it's the cherry blossoms that hog the limelight since the plum blossoms aren't as transient.

In celebration, the local town council put up lanterns on the trees, though you can't see it clearly, each lantern also has the name of a sponsor or company written on it, which is a pretty good source of revenue for the town as a whole. There were also festival stalls about selling all that delicious festival food I love so much, to feed the picnickers who've brought their mats and baskets to hold their hanami parties and get drunk on beer and cherry blossom petals.

They talk about the concept of "iyashii" here, which literally means "healing", in the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" sense. There might actually be something to it, because it was somehow really uplifting to walk around the park taking in the fresh, lightly scented air, and boughs upon boughs of fluffy pink.

And just in case looking at the trees isn't enough, there's a whole industry involved in sakura based products, from sakura scented perfume, candles, apparel and for sakura otaku, sweets made with real sakura petals and a salty tea made of preserved whole blossoms.

Mmmm... salty. Don't think I like it.

I'm told that the peony garden next door holds some of the most beautiful flowers of the season, so I'm waiting with bated breath for them to show me what they've got. Hopefully I'll get that SLR camera soon and finally capture some decent images for a change. Here's hoping.