Arrived back on the Kanto plain at the peak of a fantastic but short cherry blossom season - ie all the blossoms came out together.
Our walk home was shared with many others. It was nice to see the crowds returned to Kamakura.
A week later we went out early to enjoy falling petals...
I'm not sure why some suggested that cherry blossom parties should be cancelled because of the apocalypse. Several Japanese people have explained to me that cherry blossom season is not about spring and new life, but rather is a period of mourning - best enjoyed while the petals are falling - signifying the ephemeral nature of life and beauty. I would have thought, therefore, that nothing could be a more fitting way to mark the recent apocalypse than getting drunk on Tokhoku sake as thousands of petals fall all around.
A few minutes after the above photo was taken, the morning petal blowers and brushers came round to get the night's fall of petals all tidied up. Why they would do this I don't know. Perhaps, once again, petrol powered hand tools allow cultural tendencies to get out of control...
Not actually cheery blossom petals, but crab apple (kaido).
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Posted By jules to jules' pics at 4/24/2011 03:37:00 PM
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