Sakura Festival

I've decided that for the next few weeks, the focus is going to turn to songs about Sakura (Cherry Blossoms). It's that time of the year when the trees are blooming all over the world (Japan, Washington D.C., Cupertino). Which leads to festivities and more importantly in Japan, songs about Sakura.One of the things I enjoy about Japanese music (Enka or J-Pop) is consistent themes. Similar to how American pop tends to feature cars, blue jeans, and high school angst, Japanese music to me seems to focus on nature and determination.I can think of very few songs that don't talk about the sky or the clouds or the wind or that hill or that day. If it's not doing that, it's talking about always looking straight ahead and never looking back, or not being able to return, or promises made.Songs with flower imagery are relatively common, so it's not unusual to find a plethora of sakura songs every spring. Today, I'm taking a little diversion from the sakura blossoms and trees and focusing on the end product, the fruit.Sakuranbo is a song by Otsuka Ai which does a great job of representing the happy side of J-Pop. Otsuka-san is well known for her 'genki' style, some of her songs can be quite silly. She also has a more serious side and usually in winter she releases a popular ballad.Sakuranbo is the word for cherry fruit, and the song is referring to the way cherries are often connected in pairs by the stem."Together in love under a happy sky, we're just like a pair of cherries"-Ten