If you look around, a lot of flower trees are in full bloom along the road in Singapore and Malaysia recently. There are pink flower trees and white flower trees. The flower petals that have fallen cover the ground with a carpet of pink or white. The forest of tropical countries are rich with many different species of plants and animals. Unlike people in temperature countries who can pinpoint to you which is a pine and which is a poplar, many of us are tongue tight when asked about the name of certain plant. I found myself in this situation when my Japanese friends came to visit. They always like to ask, "What is that plant with all spiky red leaves?", "What is that plant full of small yellow flowers?".
The Japanese are well known for their craze for the cherry blossom. They would plant cherry trees all over the place and wait the entire year for the 2 to 3 weeks of cheery blossom. During cherry blossom, all major newspapers and television channels will update the cherry tree flowering information daily. Which place the cherry tree are still in green leaves, which place the cherry trees are budding, which place the cherry trees are in full bloom. On top of that, the so called "Cherry Blossom Front Line" are daily reported.
Whether intentional or by their nature, the Japanese are extremely sensitive to seasonal changes. They call this sensitivity "Jun". The sensitivity to seasonal changes is reflected in their cuisine, arts and culture. During cherry blossom, Japanese will organize picnic parties under the cherry blossom to drink sake, sing song, dance, etc. I always tell my Japanese friends that we are living in a place whereby there is only summer throughout the year. We wear the same style of clothing throughout the year. Some of our plants flower throughout the year. No big deal. And the seasonial flowering plants flower in different time throughout the year. So, we are not so sentimental when it comes to blossoming of flowers.
The extent in which the Japanese worship the cherry blossom can be said to be a national craze. Not only do their worship the cherry blossom during day time, they also put up special lighting on each cherry tree to enjoy the cherry blossom at night.
The blossoming of this unknown flower has happened for almost 3 weeks. If you know the name of the flower, kindly let me know. Perhaps, I should invite my Japanese friends to come here to sing song and drink sake under the blossoming trees.
