The most common thing people tell me when hanami comes up is some version of: that sounds lovely, but there’s nothing like that here. There usually is. And where there genuinely isn’t, it matters less than you’d think. This is a practical guide to doing hanami yourself this spring. No trip to Kyoto required. Step … Read more
Japanese has a word for the moment cherry blossoms fall in such quantity that it looks like snow. Hanafubuki. Flower blizzard. I think about this a lot. Somebody, at some point, decided that this specific event happened often enough and mattered enough that it needed its own noun. Not a description. Not a metaphor you … Read more
Every spring, something quietly extraordinary happens. Trees that spent all winter looking like bare brown sticks suddenly fill with pale pink clouds. People stop on the sidewalk to look up. Strangers smile at each other. And for about two weeks, an entire country rearranges its weekends around a flower. That’s hanami. If you’re new to … Read more
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