sakura, sakura

OK, well, the cherry blossoms (sakura) have been gone for a while but I just put the pictures on my computer and I don't know when I'll see them again in Japan so it's worth a blog post. People here wait all year for the sakura to bloom and when they do it signifies the beginning of spring when the kerosene heaters and put back into storage and everyone emerges from their homes to sit under the trees and drink beer. Quite a nice tradition, I think.