Cherry blossom season is serious business in Japan; it's tracked like weather and reported on the daily news. All of my schools cut down cherry branches and brought them inside to force them to bloom for graduation. Hanami is a special kind of party, where you go out to eat and drink under the cherry blossoms. Stores are filled with sakura (cherry blossom) printed items (although, that's not too strange... it's like that most of the year). They serve cherry blossom tea this time of year(which is oddly salty).
It's considered the sign that spring is actually here... and it's early this year. I'm going to a Hanami event in mid- April: when they planned it, they were worried they'd be too early... now they're worried that the main blossoms will be over by then. It's really interesting watching a whole culture get excited about spring...
New pictures are up on Facebook. Also, keep your fingers crossed that I don't miss all the blooms when I'm in S. Korea!
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