Bouncing Red Ball

It’s been ages since I updated Bouncing Red Ball. Things have been slower lately, days-off getting wasted, plans getting wrecked and boredom just stopping short of overwhelming. There are two things I’m waiting for right now: 1.) The 2007 World Chess Championship which starts in five days in Mexico City; and 2.) much closer to home, Typhoon No. 9 which slams Tokyo in a couple of hours. This typhoon promises to be one of the strongest this year; classes in elementary schools all over Japan has been suspended.

Don’t you ever wonder why growing certain plants is against the law? And have you thought of a rational explanation for that? (Just thinking aloud.)

Things are really slow around here all I can take pictures of are flowering plants. The poppies below are your common variety weed, not a source of opium.

I came to Japan in spring and inside the dormitory which would be my home for the next twelve months was a tree with no leaves but full of flowers. I had never seen anything like it before. The sakura is one of my first and most vivid images of Japan.

The sakura (or “cherry blossom” as many foreigners call it) is a well-known symbol of Japan, symbolizing rebirth in spring and ephemeral beauty. The sakura would stand lifeless in winter but in one brief period in spring its branches would erupt with tiny white or pinkish flowers, blanketing the whole tree.

Everyone anticipates this important event; conversations around the country would start with, “I heard the sakura would bloom earlier than usual this year…” or end with “See you at the hanami!” Hanami is the traditional cherry blossoms viewing in Japan, when people would gather beneath the branches of the sakura trees and have parties. It is the event people look forward to in spring.

Spring in Japan without cherry blossoms would be like morning without the sun.