Botanical Homage to Japan

In Japan right now, families should be enjoying the sakura zensen, the “cherry blossom front” that sweeps northward from Okinawa to Hokkaido from January through early April. Throughout the spring, families and friends celebrate Hanami, picnics shared beneath the luminous pink-and-white canopies of blooming ornamental cherry. Instead, this springtime in Japan brings unimaginable calamity. As…