As Spring arrives, the temperature goes up and a lot of flowers start blooming, which makes me happy. The cherry blossom is a type of flower that blooms in the Spring. In Japan, people admire cherry blossoms while they eat, play games, and enjoy conversations with their family and friends. This custom is called “ohanami”, which means cherry blossom viewing. This phrase doesn’t contain the word “sakura” (cherry blossom), although “ohana” in this case refers to cherry blossoms.
Cherry blossoms are often associated with the idea of “momentary beauty” because its peak bloom doesn’t last too long, and only occurs for a few weeks. Despite their short life span, cherry blossoms bloom beautifully and continue to be appealing to people.
Since 1996, Japanese-Online has been provided as a free service from PSPinc with the purpose of providing resources to individuals interested in learning about the Japanese Language and culture.
Japanese-Online has content suited to varying levels of study, including lessons for beginners as well as lessons tailored for those who need grammar and writing resources. Lessons are best suited to those who have basic understanding of hiragana and katakana alphabets before moving on to the more advanced grammar and particle lessons. Grammar lessons focus on learning about writing and creating more complex sentences and most lessons will not use romaji (Japanese sounds written with roman letters). Kanji is used in the lessons with hiragana and English translations provided.