Return to Japan - a taste of Tokyo now

THE sales assistant’s smile freezes.  It’s only for a split second, but you can almost see the thoughts frantically going through her mind: “Why is she asking me to wrap my first-born child as a present?” “Did I miss a memo about restarting English lessons for staff?” “Aieeee, is that a t-t-tourist?? But she recovers in time to stammer “one moment please”, before scuttering off to find a senior colleague better able to manage this hapless foreigner with a malfunctioning Google Translate…

Circa Tokyo, Spring 2022. It’s the tail end of Sakura. The lush, pillowy scenes of full-on blossoms are gone, but the late-bloomers are hanging on as the city shifts to the next phase of hanafubuki – the languid “snowfall” of petals floating in the breeze to form shimmery pink carpets on the ground, but especially beautiful when they fall onto a lake or pond. It’s a phenomenon that gets its own name hanaikada, with accompanying haiku, as only the Japanese can stretch the joy of sakura from start to finish with a poetic exposition of the sheer transience of life.

A city without tourists From the “official” cherry tree at Yasukuni shrine – the one that has to bloom first before you can say Sakura has sprung – to the spectacular pink-speckled lake in Chidorigafuchi park, it’s clear that this is a city that has been returned to its people. There’s no one hogging a particularly plump cluster of petals for a good shot, yelling at a companion to get her best side. Couples take a quick shot and move out of others’ way. Individuals on park benches nibble on sandwiches and soak in some sun. Armies of dark-suited young men and women on their lunch hour chatter happily as they cut through the park on their way to wherever.