Cherry blossom fever 🌸
The best of Sakura season from Japan to Europe
Before we dive into the blooming fun, just a quick reminder that the first month of free newsletters is coming to an end. Posts like today’s will be for paid subscribers and founding members only going forward. As a thank you for being with me from the beginning, I’m offering 10% off subscriptions until 13 April. That price will then stay the same for as long as you stay subscribed in the future.
Spring is in full swing in Paris and like everyone else, I have been busy with one essential activity for the season: admiring the cherry blossoms around the city (and filling my camera roll with pictures of the trees and flowers).
Sakura, the Japanese word for cherry blossom, is now often used as a buzzword in Europe around this time of year to promote seasonal events and products, using the image or scent of the blossoming.
Today, I have rounded up a few favourite things I have come across to celebrate Sakura fever.
🇯🇵 Sakura gazing in Japan
I’m off to Japan with my friends next week and we will soon be in the midst of the Sakura celebrations. I learnt that there is a specific word to check the status of the blossoms: sakura-zensen (桜前線) or blossom forecast. It’s serious business and there are plenty of maps and updates online adjusting the dates as the flowers bloom.
This article on Tandem has other fun words to learn. My favourite is Hanagasumi (花霞), which means flower haze.
🌳 Cherry blossoms in Paris
If Japan is too far, don’t worry! Since I moved back to Europe last year, I found out that cherry blossom season has become popular here, too.
In Paris, plenty of parks and gardens are filled with pink and white blossoms mid-March to mid-April and you often find beautiful trees in the middle of the streets, small squares or buildings’ grounds.
🗺️ I saved this map of the best spots with magnolias and cherry trees in Paris, but unfortunately, I can’t remember where I found it and it has no name on it.
🍒 Cherry picking in Vignola, Italy
If you have had enough of the blooms and are wondering, “What about the cherries?”, I have the perfect spot for going cherry picking later at the end of May/beginning of June.
Vignola, a small town not far from Modena in Emilia Romagna, is known as the Land of Cherries. It has an extended area of protected cherry trees, which are cultivated by families and farmers and offer the richest and tastiest dark cherries. I have relatives living there, and every year, my family travels there for a weekend to help pick (and mostly eat) the fruits. They make the best jam, too.
Marketing Sakura
Brands couldn’t let a popular tradition or event pass by without creating something to market around it. So, of course, I spotted some cherry blossom-themed campaigns in the metro and on Instagram:
A brand I do love is Rituals, and while their Amsterdam collection of Tulip and Yuzu is sadly disappearing, I have seen everywhere their Ritual of Sakura line. It might be time to pop into the shop and try some.
Meanwhile, I was quickly buying a hand cream the other day and did pick the Dove’s Matcha and Sakura scented one.
My Instagram ads can be a bit too accurate, and of course, I did love to watch this video of Moleskine’s 2025 Sakura collection.
If you are one for the fancier stuff, Louis Vuitton and Japanese artist Takashi Murakami had fun creating a Sakura collection presented by Zendaya with cute cherry blossom smiling charms.
In other blossoms…
In slightly different blossoming types, there are a few other flowery artistic things I have been seeing.
Last week, I finally visited the Flowers of Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the YSL Museum here in Paris. It’s on until 04 May and has some gorgeous pieces and sketches inspired by nature, Pierre Bonnard’s paintings and Marcel Proust In Search of Lost Time’s flower references. Some of the dresses were paired with large white books filled with quotes from Proust that inspired the designer, and art pieces hanging in some of the rooms showed how he drew inspiration from art.
Here is a peek at the exhibition:
I sadly missed the opening event of this spring exhibition by Korean artist Louis Younho at Kimchi Street, but it’s on until 20 April. I definitely want to visit this weekend and have some Korean food. You can see more in the catalogue here.
Finally, this Instagram post from the Tate has some gorgeous blooms:
Do you have plans to enjoy the cherry blossoms or blooms where you live? Any blossom-inspired activity coming up? Let us know in the comments.
So much gorgeous blossom! I love the last picture especially; Cedric Morris's iris....do you know the story of them? The varieties of iris bred by Cedric Morris (so he could paint them) are gradually being found after being lost for a long time....