3Yoshino cherry, Japan

Japan’s cherry blossom season – or hanami time – is one of the world’s great natural spectacles. Partly, this is because the blooms are so beautiful, and because the flowers appear well before the foliage.

The pinkish-white blossom is perfect, yet it is transient and therefore carries a wistfulness for which the Japanese have a special term, ‘mono no aware’. The trees are regarded almost reverentially and for the foreign visitor, hanami is an opportunity to affectionately observe the social etiquette of parties and work-outings that take place under the trees. Once you start looking, the cherry blossom symbol is everywhere – on company logos, clothing, porcelain and inevitably, tattoos.

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