Kyoto City, Japan – Cherry blossoms! Yes, cherry blossoms!

The white flowers of cherry trees in the streets and pagodas greeted us in this former seat of political power of Japan and formerly the largest city in Japan but was later surpassed by Osaka and Japan towards the end of the 16th century.

The Japanese are ecstatic over the flowering of the cherry trees in the latter part of March, presaging the onset of spring where an abundance of cherry blossoms dot the streets and countryside of this nation.

We, a group of Filipino newsmen, were told that we were lucky to have been in Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto to see the blossoming of this flower late last month.

Cherry blossom is described as "an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life," an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence.

The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It then proceeds into areas of higher altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaido a few weeks later.

This group also visited Kobe’s Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution after this city was hit by a very strong earthquake on January 17, 1995 that claimed scores of lives, injured many and flattened houses and infrastructures, particularly rail lines.

The group consisted of this writer; Angie Rosales of Tribune; Bernadette Tamayo of the Journal Publications; Cely Bueno of DWIZ; Boy Garcia, a former Manila Bulletin photographer; Dimples Farinas of the staff of  Sen. Edgardo J. Angara; and Mina Pangandaman, chief of staff of Angara.

Angara, a former Senate President and former University of the Philippines (UP) president, is one of the principal exponents of Philippine culture and of late, on disaster and risk management as the Philippines is in the typhoon and earthquake belt.

To us, what do these beautiful white cherry blossoms mean?

Cherry blossom is said to be omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, affection, and represents spring. Cherry blossoms are an enduring metaphor for the fleeting nature of life.

During World War II, the cherry blossom was used to motivate the Japanese people, to stoke nationalism and militarism among the populace.

Japanese pilots would paint them on the sides of their planes before embarking on a suicide mission or even take branches of the trees with them on their missions.

A cherry blossom painted on the side of the bomber symbolized the intensity and ephemerality of life; in this way, the aesthetic association was altered such that falling cherry petals came to represent the sacrifice of youth in suicide missions (popularly called Kamikaizis) to honor the Emperor.

The government even encouraged the people to believe that the souls of downed warriors were reincarnated in the blossoms.

A cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura, the most popular variety in Japan. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. The trees look nearly white from top to bottom.

Palawan, the westernmost province of the Philippines, has its endemic Palawan Cherry Blossoms which appears to resemble that of Japan’s.  

Yes, the cherry blossoms were a sight to remember. But like life, the cherry blossoms fall after a week. And the cycle of life — alpha and omega — goes on.