Friends of Japan Series: Chasing the falling petals - Phillip Simon

I still remember one of my first times seeing them. I was no older than nine. There I was, sitting on the couch watching Saturday-morning cartoons with a bag of kurma that my dad brought back from his early morning market run. Eventually the anime Rurouni Kenshin, what we Trinbagonians know as Samurai X, came on. That’s when I saw them. In the background scenery were these beautiful trees bursting with bright pink flowers. They looked like giant clouds of cotton candy. When the spring winds hit the treetops the petals would fly through the air as densely as raindrops in a downpour but so elegantly it was like they were dancing. This can not be real, I thought to myself.
 

As time passed I started noticing those flowers in more Japanese media. Anime such as Pokemon or video games such as Samurai Shodown and Rival Schools would always feature them. My curiosity was piqued. Soon I would come to learn its name. Sakura or Japanese cherry blossoms are the most popular flowers in Japan. I promised myself at that very young age that I would visit Japan and see cherry blossoms with my own eyes.
 

I would spend many days sitting in the poui tree in the park near my house, where I did most of my thinking, trying to figure out how I could make it across the world to see those petals dance. As I got older I became interested in more aspects of Japanese culture but my interest in cherry blossoms remained one of my main reasons for wanting to visit Japan. Finally I had the chance to make my dreams a reality by becoming an ALT with the JET programme. Unfortunately I arrived in Japan in summer and would have to wait until spring to see those flowers. My first winter was rough but the thought of those pink petals gliding in the chilly spring wind got me through.
 

Spring finally came and like a kid on Christmas Eve I COULD NOT WAIT! Every morning I would stare at the branches of the cherry blossom tree in the car park of the school where I worked. One day it finally happened. A tiny bud formed on one of the branches. I was overjoyed! That same day a teacher at school informed me that these flowers only bloom for two to three weeks. I knew I had no time to waste! My wife and I took a shinkansen to Kyoto to go on a cherry blossom tour. We were too hasty though since the cherry blossoms were not in full bloom there yet. People on the tour literally had to form a line just to take a picture next to a budding flower. When we returned from our trip however, Tokyo was covered in pink! We were too excited to wait. We headed straight for Ueno Park, found coin lockers for our luggage and took a stroll. It was like a dream. Sakura blossoms of all types and shades were everywhere. People were sitting under trees having picnics with smiles on their faces. Every afternoon for that spring and the following one my wife and I would visit a site in Tokyo or Saitama that was known for cherry blossoms. We picnicked in Omiya Koen, sailed in a paddle boat in Kudanshita, sipped Sakura wine in Nakameguro and watched as the petals flew in the breeze in Gongendo Park. My mother even visited and joined us in the flower watching fun.
 

My dream had finally come true but in the back of my mind lingered a strange feeling, like deja vu. These beautiful flowers seemed oddly familiar and not because I had seen them on television. As the falling petals of the last of the season's blossoms blew passed me, my mind travelled back to my childhood. I remember catching the falling pink flowers of the poui tree in the park across the street from my house. It was then I realized that poui flowers were very similar to the blossoms of the cherry tree. I was so fixated on a far away beauty that I took for granted the beauty that was in front of me the entire time. During a road trip to Toco beach after I returned to Trinidad I couldn’t help but stare at the poui trees laden with pink flowers on the side of the road. I thought about all the similarities and differences of the natural beauty of both countries that I love. It was then that the inspiration for my first children’s book, Petra and the Poui, came to me.


Friends of Japan Series: Chasing the falling petals (Japanese Embassy Facebook)


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