Tag: Sakura

“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

I had heard about this documentary, “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”, filmed about 1 month after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. I finally got a chance to see it, and it’s both heartbreaking and hopeful, beautifully filmed scenes of people coping with the chaos, death and destruction, with the wistful contrast of the iconic Japanese cherry trees blooming amid the debris. The maker of the film, Lucy Walker, captures the sadness, the hope, and some of the spirit of the Japanese people, in their own words, and in the images of their land.

If you get a chance, the documentary is on HBO now, and may be available other places. The trailer is on YouTube, below.

Pictures from the Washington Cherry Blossom Street Festival

Here are some pictures to give a feel for the kinds of things that went on at the annual Washington DC Cherry Blossom Street Festival (a “sakura matsuri”, “桜祭り” in Japanese). Continue reading “Pictures from the Washington Cherry Blossom Street Festival”

Some more Sunday cherry blossoms

Here is another batch of photos taken in Washington DC near the Tidal Basin. The cherry trees aren’t quite in full bloom, which is surprising given how many flowers there are, but there were still quite a few unopened buds. As you can probably tell, the sun was starting to come out of the low clouds, and so some of the photos are much better lit, with deeper shadows and brighter colors. I may have one more page to put up, just in case you all are getting just about “cherry blossomed out”!

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Some Sunday cherry blossom photos

Here’s the first batch of cherry blossom photos that I took over the weekend, these were taken around noon on Sunday. It was a cloudy day to start, so some of the pictures may be a bit dark. You can see a larger image if you click on the picture after clicking a thumbnail, or if you want to see a really big picture, you can right-click on the image. I’ll be posting more, later on.

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Cherry Blossom time in DC!

It’s that time of year again, when the cherry blossom trees are in bloom! This year kind of snuck up on everyone, since it’s been so warm, the trees bloomed a bit earlier than usual. I managed to get down there this past weekend and got hundreds of pictures. I’ll be posting the best of them in a gallery in a day or so, but here’s one that I really like. I hope you all like it, too!