Cherry Blossoms In A Ring Of Fire

Older generations of Koreans may have an ambivalent attitude towards the appearance of cherry blossoms  on the Korean landscape as they evoke bitter memories of the Japanese occupation. According to Hannah Kim, "Already on the 50th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in World War II, some of the cherry blossoms that were planted by the Japanese were chopped down at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul because they were identified as painful remnants of the colonial past. "
 

Cherry blossoms, for others, may simply spell the end of winter and start of spring. It's a popular motif on wedding cakes and some people even like it as a tattoo. However, long before the samurai and kamikaze pilots adopted the flower as their special symbol, the cherry blossom has symbolised for the Japanese the "transient nature of life" or fleeting beauty. When the sakura starts to appear in Japan around mid-April this year, there may not be so many cherry-blossom viewing parties under the trees with the attendant sake-drinking and feasting. Instead, the delicate blooms will probably be viewed silently with a wrenching of the heart and a sting in the eye.

So this posting is dedicated to all those who were killed in the recent 9.0-magnitude earthquake cum 10-meter tsunami disaster in Japan. They may have been ordinary citizens of Japan, or Koreans living and working there and there may have also been various nationalities visiting , working and living there but the forces of nature weren't discriminating. May their souls rest in peace.

BTW, check out this ominous article by Simon Winchester on the devastation in Japan which uncovers a conspiracy of triple whammies - geography, topography and geological history. His commentary begins with this sombre reminder:

"All of those broken bones in northern Japan, all of those broken lives and those broken homes prompt us to remember what in calmer times we are invariably minded to forget: the most stern and chilling of mantras, which holds, quite simply, that mankind inhabits this earth subject to geological consent—which can be withdrawn at any time."

sources:
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/13/the-scariest-earthquake-is-yet-to-come.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/02/168_63676.html
http://epoch-archive.com/a1/en/us/nyc/2009/04-Apr/08/B2.pdf
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/photography/photos/cherry-blossoms-gallery/imperial-palace-cherry-blossom/
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/seasonal/sakura2011/index.php
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/kucera/YoshidaWebsite/evolution/essay_pages/stephanie_cargile.htm