Sakura, sakura

Shinjuku last Sunday

Last weekend marked the peak of the cherry blossom season in Tokyo: already the cherries near my house are turning to leaf. the fleetingness of the bloom is one of its main charms: blink and they are gone, a reminder that everything in this world is fleeting, but that the wheel of nature will continue to turn, indifferent to our human troubles, its vitality a consolation.

The city's outspoken right-wing mayor, Shintaro Ishihara initially suggested that all festivities be cancelled in sign of mourning - it seemed unfeeling to be partying in Tokyo as Tohoku continues to suffer terrible hardship. This of course was not a popular suggestion, akin to saying "no chocolate bunnies this Easter" or "lets tell Santa Claus not to waste the reindeer power".  The final solution was a compromise: entertainments were cancelled at Ueno, alcohol was banned and bags checked in some parks (Shinjuku), while in others, such as Yoyogi, where I joined the AFJ picnic (Association des Français du Japon), the message of self-restraint seems to have been sufficient and there were no unseemly displays of public drunkenness (which would not have looked good on Monday front pages) nor many telltale red faces.

Today I continued the hanami  experience with  about 30 members from my Japanese-international women's group (Nadeshikokai) in beautiful Shinjuku park. As all our group activities had been cancelled for the past month, I suggested we get together for a little celebration. It was a great success and a nice way to lift everyone's spirits, which have been quite depressed - NOT because of Fukushima, but because of the terrible mess left behind by the tsunami.  It was warm (you can tell I'm turning red) and the Japanese as usual went overboard providing special cherry-viewing delicacies in beautiful boxes.

Saint Maur International School's fundraising for earthquake relief has entered a new stage as the "sister school" has been identified: Nakahama elementary school in Miyagi. Saint Maur relief fund now has a blog to update us on their continuing efforts. Mainichi ran a story on Nakahama ES's survival story - pretty amazing.