Once upon a time, a Thai girl named Dao traveled to Japan with her family in the spring.
The first city they visited was Kyoto, an ancient city full of temples and beautiful gardens.
But what Dao never expected were the cherry blossom trees.
Every street, every garden, every riverbank was covered in pale pink sakura in full bloom. Petals drifted through the air like pink snow. Dao stood frozen in the middle of the street until her mother had to pull her along by the arm.
In one large garden, Dao sat alone beneath a cherry tree, and a Japanese girl came to sit beside her.
“Kirei deshou?” the girl said, pointing up at the sky.
Dao didn’t know Japanese, but she understood from the girl’s eyes. She nodded and said, “So beautiful.”
The girl smiled and pointed to herself. “Hana.”
“Dao,” the Thai girl pointed to herself.
Hana pointed up at the cherry tree and said something. Dao shook her head to show she didn’t understand, so Hana pulled out a notebook and drew a picture — a cherry tree, blossoms in bloom, and then petals falling.
Dao studied the drawing and understood. Sakura only bloomed once a year, and only for about one to two weeks.
“Oh,” Dao said softly, looking at the cherry tree again with different eyes.
Beautiful because it doesn’t last long.
The two girls sat together quietly for a long while, watching the petals fall. They didn’t share a language, but they felt the same thing.
Before they parted, Hana tore a page from her notebook and folded it into a paper bird for Dao.
Dao thought for a moment, then slipped off the red string bracelet from her wrist and handed it to Hana. Hana accepted it with both hands, bowing her head slightly.
Dao carried the paper bird back to Thailand and set it on a shelf in her bedroom. Every time she looked at it, she thought of the cherry blossoms drifting through the air, and remembered that some beautiful things are more beautiful precisely because they don’t last long.
Fun facts about Japan: Cherry blossom season (Hanami) is an important Japanese tradition. People gather to picnic beneath the sakura trees with family and friends. Cherry blossoms bloom around March-April and last only 1-2 weeks, which gives them special value in Japanese culture.
