On the way back from one of our trips, we ended up at a park next to a small pond. From the main road, I had already seen a few cherry trees shining in the distance, so I had decided that we absolutely had to stop here at the very end of the day. The small pond was actually a freshwater lagoon and a remnant of the time when the Niigata region was still dotted with rivers, lakes and swamps. In some places you can still find these lakes and ponds called gata, and Bentengata is one of them.

And I keep stopping and looking around on the way back as well. I let my gaze wander over the small lagoon, once again over to the cherry trees under which we have just been walking. I can't neither avoid nor conceal this warm feeling of melancholy I mentioned at the beginning, but I also know that it is an inevitable part of the magic of these days. Even the cherry blossoms don't last forever and move on far too quickly to other regions where people are already waiting for them. Fortunately, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the Cherry Blossom Queen will grace us with her presence again in a year's time at the latest and that we will come out and celebrate her just as we did this year.