Sakura

With the advent of Spring come the blossoms as Japan enjoys its rebirth. Spring to me is symbolic of the beginning of life, and each successive season passes until you fall into a wintry death. This is why I conject that the Japanese word for all seasons is Spring Summer Fall Winter shunkashuto, but it could have to do with an old calendar system here in Japan. If my last sentence confused you, I'm sorry. It's difficult to understand how Japanese can take polar opposite words (e.g. many and few) and create a single word e.g. manyfew (tasho) which means both the many and the few. My first encounter was the word morningevening, but that is a whole different road I've already wandered down to far.

So to get back to the sakura or cherry blossoms, Kyoto is approaching full bloom this week just as the blossoms are in DC right now. The only difference is that it is legal to sit and drink under the blossoms here in Japan whereas you have to stand in a designated area to do so in DC.

Why drink under the cherry blossoms? I can only conjecture on this question as well since I've never read an answer. I have heard though that cherry blossoms are significant to Japanese culture because they symbolize how life is fleeting. The cherry blossoms bloom into very beautiful flowers only soon to wither and fall from their tree (usually after a storm). People too are born, blossom into adulthood, and soon wither and die. The fact that you can see all of this in a matter of a week or two may bring you to drinking if you think like that.

However, it is more about making the best of the time you have, especially with the ones you care about (hopefully you are drinking under the blossoms with them!). I will be drinking with my colleagues this Wednesday after I go get a checkup (don't want to screw with my health before that....). I'll be drinking to life and the fact that I still have one. Cheers!