“Have the plums bloomed? Are the cherries out yet?” has been sung since the Edo period, so the Japanese love of flowers runs deep. As winter turns to spring, the feeling of waiting for each flower in turn is easy to understand.
Once it is Yayoi—March—the heart lifts. I found myself asking a colleague, “Is anything blooming near the Palaceside Building? Did you see something on the way in?” One person sent a phone photo: “This cherry was blooming at Tokyo Park Tower in Jinbocho.”
It was planted in 2013 to mark the tenth anniversary of a neighborhood redevelopment, and the sign says it is a Kanhi cherry. Online it is described as a wild species native to southern China and Taiwan; in Japan it blooms around the old lunar New Year, so it is also called “New Year’s cherry.” In Okinawa, hanami seems to star this tree.
The flowers are a deep pink and hang like bells. They have a faintly tropical air. Many days are still cold or windy, but the season for Somei Yoshino and the rest is close. We can only hope the pandemic eases and hanami can be as it used to be.