For the Japanese, cherry is a special tree. In spring, people seek out the beauty of cherry blossoms, families and friends gather to admire the flowers. There are famous places for cherries everywhere, but even the park near your house or the roads with trees on both sides (note 1) also have many places to see the flowers.
Cherries are a very labor-intensive tree. The flowers are only beautiful for about a week in spring and then begin to fall immediately, small petals flying everywhere, causing you to have to clean up for days. Leaves turn red or yellow in the fall, pleasing our eyes, but then fall immediately and cleaning up that huge amount of fallen leaves is very difficult. However, because the tree gives us beautiful flowers and red leaves, ①just cleaning should not be a complaint.
The most labor-intensive thing with cherries is keeping the tree alive for a long time. It is said that if left alone (note 2), in about 60–70 years the tree will weaken and die. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off unnecessary branches, support heavy branches that are drooping down, and take all kinds of care. This work is very troublesome, but is done by cherry lovers all over the country, so cherry trees over 100 years old are not rare.
Not only preserving old trees, planting new trees is also very exciting. Every time there is a new park or school, people are sure to plant young cherry trees. Even though they know it's a waste of effort, Japanese people still want to have a cherry tree near them. For the Japanese, there is probably no other tree that is so special other than the cherry.
(note 1) 並木道: the road is tens of meters long with trees planted on both sides. (note 2) 放っておく: not taking care of anything.