The cold, dark weather and winter landscape have subtly given way to warm temperatures, fair weather, and sakura flowers in full bloom.
It appears suddenly, and then, like a sakura blossom, disappears with the wind.
The hotel's signature scent, Sakura (meaning cherry blossom in Japanese), subtly permeates the air, while cherry blossom flower arrangements brighten the public spaces.
For example, Sakura, the cherry blossom festival, is celebrated now, and the flowers decorate the place setting and infuse a light broth served at the start of dinner.
In Japan, the flowering of cherry blossom (Prunus serrulata) – or sakura – is headline news as nightly reports track when and where the flowers appear.
Sakura is the country's national flower, its arrival greeted each year with Springwatch-style fervour; it's the lavender fields of Provence, the tulips of Amsterdam and the American Fall rolled into one.
The annual rite of spring in Japan goes back hundreds of years and involves sitting under "sakura" trees and taking in the fluffy pink flowers, which drop off about a week after they appear.
Sakura is the word for cherry blossom in Japanese.
Use Sakura's Wild Shuriken Dance a box might come up and it will combine Phoenix Flower Jutsu and Wild Shuriken Dance.
(Sakura and Momiji are Japanese chicken breeds).
Sakura, who had been hers since his puppy days, was named for the Japanese word for cherry blossom, his owner's favorite flower, and was by all accounts a remarkable creature.
