In March, many people in Japan have butterflies in their stomachs. It is because March is the time for leaving an old life and starting a new life; such as graduating school, being transffered to a new office and so on.
Also March is the start of SAKURA (cherry blossoms) season!!
When March starts, we hear a word Sakura-zensen(桜前線）on the news. It means "cherry blossom front" referring to the advance of the cherry blossom across Japan. Sakura blooming forecast predicts it will bloom on March 17th in Kagoshima, Kyusyu, south of Japan, May 9th in Hokkaido, north of Japan this year!!
When is the earliest bloom date for your area? SAKURA Forecast for 2021 『Japan Weather Association NEWS』 2021.03.02
We hear the advance of the front every day on news. The front starts from the southern part of Japan and goes up to the north taking about 2 months to cover the whole of Japan.
Also we are hearing how much the sakura blooms. Sanbu-zaki (三部咲き) means 30% in bloom. Gobu-zaki (五分咲き) means 50% in bloom, Mankai (満開) means in full bloom.Full bloom usually lasts about 1 week to 10 days from the first day of flowering.
Maybe, you can understand how much people are looking forward to seeing sakura! One of the reasons people want the news is for Hanami(花見) -cherry blossom viewing. Hanami is a party where, people get together to see sakura and enjoy drinking and eating under sakura trees.
People are really keeping their eyes on sakura in spring!!
People also love having sakura products. So many products are in shops in March and pretty pink colr will be all around you.
Of course we have sakura in Japanese cooking ,too.
These are called Sakura mochi(桜餅) made of sweet pink mochi (rice cake) or a pink pancake. It is usually filled with anko( sweet bean paste) in a salty pickled cherry leaf. Sakura mochi is usually eaten on Girl's day on March 3rd and but also enjoy throughout the spring season in Japan.
Waiting for sakura flowers to bloom, seeing sakura, wearing sakura, eating sakura, living with sakura.....
Look how essential sakura is for Japanese people!
Now, I can introduce you sakura products in our web shop. They are so cute. It would be nice to have them on your table!
Can you see the cup has a cute sakura shape in the bottom?
Yamani - Miyama Tableware: Sakura Sencha Tea Cup Pink
It is nice, isn't it? Not only sencha green tea, but you can also see it through black tea.
How about the next ones?
These are chopstick rests.
How cute the soft pink color is. You can probably use them as decoration,too.
The tea canisters are also lovely.
You can put not only tea leaves but also something else. Possibly you just enjoy looking beautiful designs on your table?!
If you want the flavor of sakura, here is green tea with sugared sakura leaves and dried sakura blossom petals.
Chasandai: Sakura Sencha with Sugared Sakura Leaves
There is not any artificial flavoring added. You can enjoy a soft and nice flavor of real sakura!!
This time I showed you how important sakura is for people in Japan and how people enjoy sakura in their lives.
I have got more things to tell you about sakura!! I will write about a sakura bark craft and sakura in cooking, next time.
Items in this article:
Yamani - Miyama Tableware: Sakura Sencha Tea Cup Pink
Yamani - Miyama Tableware: Sakura Chopstick Rest Pink
Shizucan: Mt. Fuji Series Washi Tea Canister
Chasandai: Sakura Sencha with Sugared Sakura Leaves