Every spring, countries all around the world celebrate the annual ritual of cherry blossom season, and no country captures it in art, poetry, ancient literature — and even on the nation’s currency — more than Japan.
This is only my first spring in Tokyo, so I don’t have any basis for how this year’s “sakura” celebrations compare to previous, but the locals tell me this was quite an amazing year. Moreover, with last year’s cherry blossom season coming just weeks after the Great East Japan Earthquake, many Japanese did not celebrate the season out of respect for those who lost their lives or property.
Sakura are quite symbolic for a variety of reasons, but most prominently for their association with mortality and proof that life is transient. Here are some attempts at capturing the wonderment of it all:
