If you’ve ever had the chance to watch Sakura fall from their lofty perch and flutter down to the roadside, then you know how messy these cherry blossoms can be. Once loose in the air, the petals get carried this way and that, and if you’re lucky they might even land in your hand. People of all ages play the simple game of “Catch the falling blossom”. Perhaps it is this child-like fun of collecting items out of the thin air that has caused Sakura to show up in almost every corner of Japan.
It starts in early spring, just as the sun lingers over the treetops longer than the darkness. The major TV news networks report annually on where the first Sakura of the season can be found. Then stores bring out their plastic Sakura branches and pink promotional flags to lure in Sakura aficionados. But there is nothing that compares to the real McCoy.
It seems that for every petal that is shed from these old knobbed cherry trees, there are just as many photos taken of them. Whether if it is from a Nikon D3x with a 400mm telephoto lens or a mobile phone snapshot, anyone who has seen the blossoming trees has taken a picture of their flowery fireworks. And every year, shutterbugs and amateurs unite in developing a new round of identical photographs. But the propagation of Sakura goes beyond the back of a lens.
The name Sakura has become a common name for restaurants, so common that there are over a hundred Japanese restaurants named Sakura in Tokyo, according to the Townpages. But this popular business name doesn’t stop at fine dining. There are moving companies, pharmacies, classic costume stores, and real estate agencies that have adopted the Sakura brand. Even schools and some churches have chosen Sakura for their title. Yet, the proliferation of Sakura continues.
In 2007, the name for baby girls that was ranked 2nd as the most popular name was, indeed, Sakura. According to the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company, the name unfortunately (for Sakura) dropped to 4th in 2008. Yet I doubt we’ll have less Sakura in the world because of this momentary dip in naming trends.
In fact there are cherry trees that blossom the world over. From the Philippians to Great Britain there are budding Japanese Sakura. Typically, this is the result of some botanically integrated trade negotiations and, nonetheless, a nice gesture. If you feel at all left out of this Sakura craze, just flip over a \100 coin and you will have your very own Sakura Hanami in the palm of your hand.
So, now as we sweep up the last of the Sakura sprinkles, we can take part in clearing the way for a new beginning, brush away the status quo, or maybe catch some Sakura fervor ourselves.
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