and everyone apologizes...

Today the Meteorological Agency of Japan apologized to all Japanese citizens for a mistake it made in predicting when the cherry trees would blossom. Sigh...

This is so Japanese. I felt so bad for the three guys who had to do a press conference and bow after apologizing. They also interviewed obento (lunch box) stores who were frustrated because they had released their special cherry blossom obentos two weeks too early and some Japanese citizens who were also quite irritated by the mistake.

You're probably wondering why this is a big deal and mostly it has to do with traditions. In Japan when the cherry trees blossom people get together with their friends and family and go for a picnic under the trees at parks or wherever there are cherry trees. This is called hanami and it could be compared to Fourth of July picnicing in the States except that it's still cold during this season and therefore not as much fun. But it is beautiful.

Another reason why I am always interested in cherry blossom season is because of Sakura. Sakura means cherry blossom (although we changed the Chinese characters for her name so it means "the blossoming of good") and people always think she's born in March/April since that's cherry blossom season and then I have to tell them that actually she was born in June but we chose her name in April. People are always puzzled by this so it's probably something she'll have to explain for the rest of her life. I feel bad that I have unwittingly thrust this problem upon her. Fortunately she's cute so she'll be able to get away with it!

You can read the article about the cherry blossom mishap here.