One of the questions I was often asked in Japan was whether we have cherry blossoms in England. To this, I would reply: ‘yes, but English people don’t really pay much attention to them.’
Since returning to the UK, I can confirm that this is definitely the case: whereas the fervour surrounding hanami in Japan can best be described as a national obsession(a perfect example of this being the sakura-zensen ‘cherry blossom front’ weather forecasts, pictured above), in England people barely seem to notice the trees blossoming.
As usual, I began to wonder about the reasons for these cultural differences. Here are the ideas I came up with:
The appreciation of flowers was introduced to Japanese culture from China over a thousand years ago, long before flowers were cultivated for their beauty in Britain. Having been a part of the culture longer, the practice of ‘flower viewing’ has become more significant in Japan and more trees have been planted there. As well as being more prevalent in Japan, they are found in more public places.
The two countries have differing species of cherry blossom trees; English trees blossom earlier (in January/February), when the weather is still very cold. So there’s no way anyone’s going to sit out and have a picnic, regardless of how pretty the blossoms look.
As well as Japanese trees blossoming when the weather is warmer, the time when they blossom (March/April) coincides with the start of the school and business year on the 1st April – as a result, cherry blossoms have come to be synonymous with rejuvenation and a fresh start and are associated with momentous events in people’s lives.
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on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, Articles in English, Back In Britain.
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One of the questions I was often asked in Japan was whether we have cherry blossoms in England. To this, I would reply: ‘yes, but English people don’t really pay much attention to them.’