Cherry Blossoms

 The Japanese, and the foreigners living here, truly love cherry blossoms. They are so beautiful but soon blow away. They illustrate the Buddhist idea that nothing is permanent that that this life of ours is beautiful but short. Cherry blossom viewing is a big deal, but it is not religious. It is a party where you go and look at the beautiful flowers and then sit under them and eat and drink as much as you can. Many of the parks in Japan have large numbers of cherry trees and, when they are in blossom, people come and spread out the blue tarps that have been so much in evidence since the earthquake as a place to sit. Many companies will allow some of the employees to leave work early so that they can stake out a good location. Then for once leaving at the official quitting time everyone else follows.

On Thursday I had to go to the dentist for what turned out to be a gum problem, rather than a tooth problem. After they had worked on my mouth and given me some pain killer, my ;wife and i decided to walk home so that we could see the blossoms. They were in full bloom and very pretty. I think that if the sun had been out they would have looked much pinker but they were extremely nice the way they were. There is no need for descriptions. I will just let you enjoy the pictures.