Sakura!

Have you heard the Japanese song "Sakura," that invites "Come and see the cherry bloom"? I remember learning it in elementary school.

With Spring, sakura (cherry-blossom time) comes to Tokyo. In the U. S., it makes us happy to see cherry blossoms. But here, it is a major cultural event. Folks head the parks--such as Shinjuku Kyoen below--to admire and picnic beneath venerable, enormous cherry trees.

After dark, when the big parks are closed, cherry trees in the neighborhood--in small parks, playgrounds, plazas, and so forth--are lit up in celebration. Groups of friends find places underneath to eat, drink sake, and sing into the wee hours.



This early-blossoming tree is framed by the "Big Gate" and Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto.

A recent instance brought home to me just how important these trees are in Japan. As I have written before, we are living over our heads in Tokyo, and we know it. But I managed to impress some neighbors--unintentionally, upon my word--when in all the sakura discussion I happened to mention that we have a cherry tree in our yard back home in New Jersey. They seemed amazed beyond comprehension. I suspect some of them have only been able to reconcile this information by telling themselves I must be mistaken, that it must be some other type of tree. A person may own a Maserati, but a cherry tree?. . .Get real!