A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.”. -Max Muller
A big shout-out to Max, undoubtedly my favourite German educator of the mid nineteenth century, for this quote. Blossoming flowers are happening right now in Tokyo and recently I love seeing them. This yearly event I refer to is the amazing cherry blossom season in Japan, the botanical version of Oktoberfest and Christmas rolled into one fabulous flowering festival. It has taken me several years to truly appreciate and respect just how beautiful and appealing Japanese “Sakura” cherry blossoms are – in fact, at the risk of being labeled unbelievably lame, I could describe my relationship with “Sakura” as a blossoming romance!
Nothing says Japan more than the Cherry Blossom season. Nothing that is unless you were somehow able to photograph a sumo wrestler serenely squatting with a selection of sushi in his hand while posing in front of Mount Fuji as a bullet train serendipitously flashed by in the background. The lead up to the Cherry Blossom season can be just as entertaining and beautiful as the flowers themselves, as major television networks dedicate serious swaths of airtime to forecast the arrival of the blossoms and how long the season will last. To see and hear usually earnest television presenters waxing lyrical about the imminent arrival of blossoming flowers, is quite something to behold and cherish. In a usual year, a year where the grey cloud of COVID-19 doesn’t hang menacingly above great metropolises, cherry blossoms parties in Tokyo take place in parks of all shapes and sizes. It is not uncommon for office workers to temporarily throw open the gates of Japanese office conformity and head to the nearest downtown park to imbibe abundant amounts of sake and sit under the blossoms in a state of equal part celebration and reverential respect. While this year’s cherry blossom viewing may be more subdued than usual, the flowers themselves will be as lively and as cheerful as always! A sight well worth seeing!
Japan Boy Running 