Cherry Blossom Season!

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In Japan, a major symbol of the Spring season is the blooming of the Sakura--what we call Cherry Blossoms in English. In 1912 Japan gave the United States 3,000 cherry blossom trees to celebrate their growing relationship. In 1965, they gave another 3,800.

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The Cherry Blossom Festival held in D.C. [and also some other cities in the United States] is a parallel with the Japanese tradition of Hanami, the flower viewing activity that occurs from about mid-March to late May, meant to celebrate the beauty of the trees and nature. The word Hanami, written in Japanese looks like this: 花見 [you may not be able to see this if Japanese type is not installed on your computer]. The first symbol/character, read as hana 花, means "flower". The second 見, read as mi [pronounced like "me"] means "view" or "see". So it literally translates to "flower viewing". This activity began long ago in classical Japan, and although today the main focus is the cherry blossom, it also encompasses the viewing of other blossoming trees as well.

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We took the Metro down to the National Mall, the area near the Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial, and the National Monument, where the Smithsonian museums are. There were many, many tourists, lots of people making picnics and flying all sorts of kites. The Cherry Blossoms were gorgeous! It's not like other trees that have a lot of green foliage amidst the blossoms; with the Cherry trees all you see are fluffs of pink everywhere. It is truly, truly beautiful.