Samの英語チャンネル

The enticing anticipation, beautiful blooming, and wistful goodbye are all here.

When all the variables align just right, sakura season is magical. Finding the perfect spot in the park, right next to a tree with fully opened cherry blossoms and springtime sunshine warming both your body and your heart, is a great way to spend the day.

But then there are the times you arrive at the park only to find all the good spots are already taken. Maybe the sakura are blooming earlier or later than you’d expected, and you miss out on seeing their full-bloom beauty. Cold and rainy weather isn’t unheard of in the spring either, and oh, yeah, there’s still that pandemic going on, which can put kind of a damper on the whole “large public gathering” thing.

Thankfully, though, there’s a way to guarantee a bit of sakura magic at home, with the aptly named Magic Sakura.

Produced by Tokyo company Keibunsha, Magic Sakura is an approximately 135-millimeter (5.3-inch) paper cherry blossom tree that recreates the emotional arc of sakura season. In its initial form, the branches are bare, like they would be on cherry blossoms trees in the winter. After applying the “Magic Water” that’s included in the bundle though, the flowers slowly start to blossom, first appearing in one to two hours and reaching full bloom in about 10, with excitement and anticipation building along the way.

The exact time needed to blossom varies depending on the temperature and humidity of the room, with Keibunsha saying a temperature of 15 to 25 degrees Celsius (59 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) and a humidity of 40-60 percent is ideal in terms of blossoming speed and quality.

Real-life cherry blossoms don’t last forever, though, so neither do Magic Sakura’s. In total, you get about four weeks to admire them, but eventually they delicately fall from the branches and artistically scatter, in a poignant parallel to the wistful atmosphere of life’s brief but beautiful memory-making moments.

Magic Sakura is priced at 880 yen (US$8.50) and can be ordered here through Keibunsha’s online store.

Source, images: PR Times
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Source: SORA NEWS24