Cherry blossom season is underway and the flowers are pretty much at full bloom at the moment.
Like every year, I try to take a picture of the first ones I get to see up close.
Here it is:
The picture is actually 10 days old, and contrary to tradition, it was not taken on Ogijima, but in Kinbuchi Forest Park in the town of Miki.
Yes, the thing is that I’m avoiding Ogijima at the moment.
As you know the island’s population is very old for the most part, and as long as there aren’t too many visitors, they’re relatively safe from the Covid-19, but if someone were to bring it to the island, it could have dire consequences.
So, I’m doing my share in trying to protect the island and stay clear from it with great sadness at the moment – and so should you, if you read this and have the opportunity to go to the islands at the moment, please don’t. They’ll still be there waiting for us where this current and unusual situation that we’re all in, comes to pass.
And the current situation is also the reason why you may not see many more cherry blossom pictures this year on this blog. I’ve never been a fan of getting drunk on a blue tarp under cherry trees, but every year, I do pay a visit to Ritsurin Garden and a few more places. I may not this year. I’ll try to take a few pictures of the trees on campus or near my house instead.
As far as the current coronavirus situation in Kagawa, the second official case has been confirmed; a Takamatsu resident returning from Kyoto.
Maybe now, people here are going to start taking the pandemic seriously, although I’m afraid that most are still waiting for the authorities to take action, and knowing those, I doubt they take action preventively.
So, I’m socially isolating myself as much as possible. Classes were supposed to start again on April 10th, but they’ve been pushed back one week. I’m not sure if that will make a difference, but at least it will give us enough time to adapt our classes to an online format, as we (the other teachers I spoke with) all hope that if classes are not canceled altogether (very unlikely, because, Japan), they will be ported to an online format.
We’ll see.
Until next time, stay safe.
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Lovely cherry blossom photo, David. Coincidentally, I’ve been using my two weeks self-isolation (having had to cut short a trip to the US to return to Australia) to organise all my photos from the pre-digital life. Looking at the many photos I took of a spectacular cherry blossom season I happened to catch in Tokyo in 2005 was a particular pleasure. The moat around the palace was stunning — in fact, everywhere was stunning. And I did get drunk on a blue tarp under cherry trees. Just the once.
Wishing you and all the residents of Kagawa good health and good cheer in these difficult times.