Where to find the earliest cherry blossoms in Japan
Hey guys and gals on ask Japanese it's your flashy fashion reporter CathyCat
and today I'm gonna tell you 10 facts about the Japanese cherry blossoms and
if you watch till the end I'm gonna tell you a little secret how you can watch the
cherry blossoms before anybody else does. T his video is also sponsored by
Tokyo Treat and Sakurako so let's go and find out more about the cherry blossoms. Let's go!
Number one: many of you guys know that the Japanese name for cherry blossom is Sakura
but do you actually know where that name is coming from and what it means?
There are many theories around the name of Sakura but one I like the most: one is taken the SA of Sakura and which
is symbolizing the agricultural gods or deities. And if you think about it here living in Japan
I've seen it a lot too, a lot of cherry blossom trees are planted near rice fields
so that is the SA of SAKURA.
And the KURA in Sakura is for a place where the gods sit down and that is actually what the farmers do at the start of spring
it's also the start of the Agricultural season so everyone sits down and prays to the gods and hopes to the gods
that there will be a great harvest.
Number two why do Japanese people do Hanami? Hanami are cherry blossom picnics
where Japanese people get together under the cherry blossom trees, they have some
food and they have some alcohol and that one is also based on history
Remember how I said that Japanese Farmers got together under the cherry blossom trees to wish for a good harvest
now in this situation there's also alcohol involved as well because alcohol is actually seen for religious purposes as well
as it is a purification and a kind of religious thing to drink. Why?
That is because Sake is won from the most agricultural crop that Japan has: rice
and therefore it is also used for celebrations as an offering to the gods, for purifications
and farmers in the old days they used to have these festivals under the trees where they drank sake
to wish for a good Harvest and it turned popular and that's how we get Hanami
80% of the Japanese cherry blossom trees are actually not coming from a seed they're clones
When you come to Tokyo you probably want to go and see the cherry blossom trees in Tokyo
now the one thing is... that most of those in Tokyo actually come from the one... the one tree and they're clones of the one tree
In Tokyo most of the cherry blossom trees are from the one tree the Someiyoshino
The Someyoshino was found around the 1900s and ever since then it's been spread around for example Tokyo
by not using the seeds but by using the branches. Taking a branch, planting it into the soil and making it grow from there
which means all of those trees have the same gene!
And creating a cherry blossom tree that way is faster and easier than creating it from a seed.
So that is why it spread so quickly around Japan
The Japanese cherry blossoms cannot live without humans. As mentioned before they are clones which
means they only have two genes and they cannot multiply themselves so for example in Tokyo
they bloom and then they're gone... there is no fruit they cannot multiply themselves
Since the someiyoshino cherry blossom trees are made from their branches by humans they cannot multiply themselves
to conserve their own species, so they do need humans to help them do that
so if you put two Someiyoshino cherry blossom trees next to each other or even several ones they cannot multiply
themselves they cannot pollinate each other the only way to pollinate that type of cherry blossom tree is
to bring in the pollen from a different type of cherry blossom only then can they create seeds and fruits as such
so if you see some fruits they're generally a mix of the someiyoshino and a different type of tree
these ones here are kawasusakura, so they're actually a different breed
Cherry blossom leaves however are poisonous. Did you know that the cherry blossom leaves
that sometimes sweets are wrapped in are actually toxic? They're kind of dangerous!
Dah, did I get you there? They're not that bad but the leaves however do contain cumarin which is
against blood clotting which means the blood will keep on running that is actually in the leaves
Due to that though, the ground beneath the cherry blossom trees where the leaves have fallen is not fruitful
and not many other plants can grow. Now check out this picture you see cherry blossom trees, me and yellow flowers
these yellow flowers are Nanohana a type of rapeseed and they can actually underneath the trees grow
because they can grow even on poor soil and their time when they bloom is similar to the time of the cherry blossom trees
What about the cherry blossom sweets then? Are they dangerous? Are they toxic?
Don't you worry they're actually fine the amount you would have to eat of those leaves for it to be dangerous for you
is quite a lot so you can actually enjoy it in the safety of knowing you'll be fine. Yum
If you don't know what a cherry blossom flavor is, it is actually the flavor of the leaves and
also of the actual cherry blossom petals themselves, that is also the cumerin flavor
but like I said it's safe for you to eat these ones here are Sakura Mochi
on the inside they have bean paste and the flavoring comes strongly from the salted leaf
it's perfect and everyone enjoys it under the cherry blossom trees.
The leaves and the salt have antibacterial properties which means in the old days even,
it was easy for them to carry these items around and give them to the people and enjoy them later underneath the cherry blossom trees
Sakurako and Tokyo Treat are Japanese treat boxes, they have different themes and we have the March ones here
So let's have a look inside!
Tokyo treat has about 20 exclusive seasonal special snacks in here
some of them are even limited so let's check those out
the description leaflet, seasonal kitkat melon,
potato chips seaweed flavored, instant udon noodles,
blueberry pocky and many more snacks
This is perfect if you decide to make a cherry blossom picnic under the cherry blossoms in your country
Sakurako is more traditional they support Japanese snack makers and in there there are 20 treats including Japanese tableware
so let's check it out..... leaflet with explanation, traditional rice crackers Japanese sweets and candy
perfect for the season, they always have a tea bag that you can enjoy while you're eating the snacks
it includes a table dish it has a symbol for luck on it and you can use it to have some food inside or maybe
even drink your sake with it
And don't forget to use our code ASKJAPANESE if you're curious about getting yourself your own little treat box
for five dollars off of it. There's more about it in the description box down below... and let's get back to the video
One of the most known cherry blossom sweets are the three colored Dango rice cakes
these are three rice cakes stuck on top of each other and you might have seen them actually in popular anime and similar
they're always in the same color order: pink white and green. There's also a saying to these colors
"When the pink cherry blossoms blossom in Spring, the snow of winter will have melted away, giving space for the green crops to grow in summer."
There are many stories about these rice cakes here on a stick, but that story I just told you is my favorite and they taste great. Yum
Cherries are actually super toxic! Now especially around this time of the year people love eating cherries
it is one of those Seasons where we kind of want to eat cherries as well however for example in 2021
there was a cherry brand and their very refreshest and newest cherries they were as expensive as 1 million yen
however you shouldn't eat them because they're dangerous
Just kidding I'm not talking about those cherries but if you see some cherries on non-agricultural areas
and they have very very small fruits those ones are actually not for eating because they are highly toxic!
Some of those young cherries have Cyanogenetic glycoside which brings cyanide poisoning however
once they mature the amount of it gets lower and they're safe to eat
which means if you want to have some cherries in Japan don't just randomly go and grab them somewhere standing freely
actually buy them from a proper Farm or actually packaged at the supermarket
Another problem is that Sakura cherry blossom trees might actually get extinguished in the future
Remember the Someiyoshino sakura trees? Those ones are very popular all around Japan but there is one problem
they cannot grow in a too hot climate and even recently in Tokyo some cherry blossom trees they couldn't bloom
because it was too hot for them already. So if global warming rises like it is rising now
we might not have cherry blossom trees in the future oh my gosh! Let's look out for the environment more!!
Why are so many cherry blossom trees planted near rivers? Now this is actually a quiz I'm gonna ask you
You will have seen a lot of cherry blossom trees on photos near rivers
so I'll give you three things why that could be:
Number 1 the cherry blossom trees needs a good water so you can harvest the Sakura mochi later
Number 2 it is to watch the beautiful petals of the cherry blossoms drift on the river oh so beautiful
Number 3 it is a great contrast for photographs
And the answer is.... number 4 for the Improvement of the infrastructure ....
none of them sorry about that
In the samurai era in Japan the Lords were actually trying to build something and they had the cherry blossom trees for financial reasons
now they were trying to have civilizations near rivers because they needed to have that fresh water
but they had a bit of problem with flooding
So they try to make safe banks near the river, however one problem for that was
they needed very hard soil.... so the genius idea was to plant cherry blossom trees there
and people would come to walk around the cherry blossom trees
and that is why cherry blossom trees were planted along the rivers
so people would come, look at the flowers, and while they're walking around: harden the ground
Now like I mentioned at the start of the video where can you see the cherry blossoms near Tokyo earlier than anybody else because when you come forward watching the cherry blossoms
where can you see the cherry blossoms near Tokyo earlier than anybody else?
because when you come for watching the cherry blossoms in Tokyo it's kind of hard to get the timing right
they only bloom for a very short time and it's easy to miss them. At the end of March is when the most people come to visit Japan
and that is the time when the flights are actually super expensive so here's our tip
Our hint is to come here in February we are currently at Nishidaira Batake that is a park in Kanagawa prefecture
and here you can be one of the first to see the first cherry blossoms near Tokyo
You can get here in just over an hour and there's even a shuttle bus from the station
they're currently doing their Sakura, their Cherry Blossom Festival so let's go and check it out
How did you like our cherry blossom facts?
One little warning or one little thing I need to mention is
there are a lot of cherry blossom Goods that are actually sold right before the cherry blossoms bloom
so if you're a little bit early in Japan get your cherry blossom chocolate, your cherry blossom drinks,
get them all in because by the time all the other cherry blossoms are blooming at the end of March
those goods will be sold out so that is my personal tip for you guys
I hope you enjoyed those 10 facts that we gave you and one more time big shout out and a big thank you for Tokyo Treat
and Sakurako for making it able for us to come to the festival and enjoy the cherry blossoms
Don't forget to follow or subscribe and like this video
I'm looking forward to catching you with another hint, trivia and funny facts about Japan here on Ask Japanese! Bye!
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