Crisis Amongst the Cherry Blossoms

　 So, April has arrived. Sakura season is in full swing. Cherry blossoms are blooming, filling towns and parks with soft pink fluffiness. And Hanami parties are popping up everywhere. During the daytime, blue plastic sheets reserve the best spots for company parties. Later, office departments sit down and get progressively drunk in a relatively quiet and amiable manner.

For a map of the cherry-blossom front (South-to-North), click here (Map key top-to-bottom: Still Buds, Started Bloom, Viewing Time Now, Start to Fall Off, Finished, No Data). You can check out the developments in this year's blossom in most important parts of Japan - here is the current situation in Tokyo.


　 However, according to one daytime TV program ("The Crisis Continues - The Latest 2009 Hanami Situation"), not all is well at all. Really. There are disturbing reports indicating that ripples, nay, quivers of the financial mayhem have reached this far, impacting ordinary Hanami-goers and the industry supporting their needs.

This lady says this Hanami party is also her farewell event, because she is being let go of.

She reveals how last year they had sushi, but this year, they are having....　

　 home-made Oden (boiled stuff) !　

　 It has even impacted the homeless. This chap says "The level of rubbish is definitely down from last year, and its impacting homeless people"


　 However, delivery pizza has not been impacted, in fact sales are up as punters previously too-posh to nosh on baked dough products smothered with gooey paste are downsizing.


　 The increase in Hanami deliveries is proving challenging, even for the highly motivated, yet poorly paid ($10-12/hr), delivery staff. This girl is trying to find a customer, and is literally running around a park full of Hanami-goers, pizza in hand.

　 The customer got lost on his way to the meeting point. Irresponsible.

　 Here he is enjoying the pizza during his hanami party.


　 However, the pizza shops are eating the sushi shops' lunch, so to speak. This sushi chef is says "Last year's $500 customers have become $200 customers".

　 Not only that, but the latest fear is that there are too many old Sakura trees in Japan - once they get past 60, they may start to loose their flowering potential !


According to Yomiuri Shinbun online Sakura News service (top breaking cherry blossom news brought to you daily), one village in Okayama planted 137 Sakura trees to celebrate victory over the Russians, over a hundred years ago, but over the past few years they have started to decay.

The finances of the village (pop. 80) are starting to look like those of the US Government, but on a smaller scale (they have been asking tourists to help out with donations). Similarly to the financial crisis, this is one requires significant capital and it is not going away quickly. Treatment involves packing mucky stuff found in ponds into the sickly tree's wounds, and costs $1,800 per tree.

So, with millions of ageing cherry blossoms, is this the time to see this situation as an opportunity?

To become a "tree doctor" in Japan takes seven years of experience in diagnosing things that go wrong with trees and an exam on tree-related knowledge, says the Japan Tree Doctor Association.

But if we're moving from a Service-Economy to a Potato-Based economy (one step advanced from the Looting Economy), then this certification is surely a golden opportunity.