Back home it might be all about the chocolate bunnies and dyed eggs, but springtime in Japan only means one thing–cherry blossoms.

The frenzy surrounding sakura might not be easily understood by those who haven’t experienced it firsthand. Special weather forecasts, hanami parties under the trees, special foods like dango and sakuramochi–all just to celebrate some flowers?

Yes and no. Here, spring is a time both for parting ways and new meetings. Graduations, entrance ceremonies, new jobs, melted snow, more hours of sunlight–this is the moment in which change is born, in which the illusion of permanence is never more apparent. The sakura bud, bloom, and tumble from their branches all within a week or two. This brevity–this string of fleeting moments that make up a lifetime–is the ultimate treasure represented by these flowers.

And so we drink and eat and make merry beneath a canopy of pale pink popcorn petals, just for the moment.