When people think of Japan, they think of the cherry blossoms, and certainly they deserve all of the admiration that they are due. For me though, the real harbingers of spring are not cherry blossoms but their precursors, plum blossoms. They look relatively similar and people often mistake the plum flowers for their more famous cousin. They're both beautiful, but the plums show up to the party earlier and shine the light of spring on us before the calendar says it is at hand. When they begin to fade and drop their petals to the ground, the buds on the cherry trees start to form.
I'll miss the plum blossoms, and how they bring some of the first stirrings of spring into winter and herald the move to warmer days.
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