Unlike most diaries, which are made for just a year, mine stretches back three years. It’s great because it allows me to look back and pinpoint what I was doing at a certain time and reminisce about how I was feeling at that exact moment.
I checked back to 2020 and saw that the cherry blossoms were just about to bloom this time last year, but by April 1st this year they were already fully in-bloom.
Before going to work I decided to drop into my local cafe ‘Saku Le Pain’ for a nice hot latte.
Then I stopped off at Jitokuji temple to see the cherry blossoms.
The pink weeping cherry trees were half-bloomed and there were some elderly people seizing the opportunity to snap some photos of the beautiful trees.
This temple has always been my favourite. From up here I can see for miles ー all the way out to Fukushima city with Mt Azuma looming in the distance.
Spread across the side of the mountain I caught a glimpse of the rabbitー shaped snow formation known as ‘Tanemaki Usagi’, which appears when the winter snow has all but melted. Tanemaki Usagi translates to ‘Seed-sowing rabbit’, as in the past farmers would be prompted to start sowing the seeds on their farms after seeing this white symbol, which marks the coming of spring.
I took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air and headed to work.
Kiitos!! 