Cherry blossom roads of Japan

Every spring, Japan follows the cherry blossoms as they open from south to north, with forecasts of the "cherry blossom front" reported much like the weather. The season in any one place is short, often only a week or two from first bloom to falling petals, which is part of why it is celebrated so intensely, with picnics under the trees known as hanami.

Many of the most memorable views are not in famous gardens but along ordinary roads, rivers and canals, where rows of trees were planted together and now meet overhead. The first two photographs show this: a road turned into a tunnel of pink, and a long avenue lined with blossom as far as the eye can see.

Other frames slow down. Cherry branches hang over a calm lake with a small island; blossom falls across a mossy stone wall, the soft and the solid side by side.

The last photograph is a quiet coda: plum blossoms on a thin branch. Plums flower earlier than cherries, at the end of winter, and in Japan they are the first sign that spring is on its way.

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Photos: 7010naoto, dep377, kanenori, mak0t0 on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.