The cherry blossoms started blooming in Tokyo, TV news said some days ago. Every year people wait the news of cherry blossoms and we often see maps when to bloom. Love Our love for cherry blossoms seems something special. My place is about 700 meters from the sea level, and the cherries bloom very late. Probably we have to wait two more weeks. I really envy the warm districts. But even in my garden spring is coming, and flowers are starting blooming. For more than three months the garden was just brown, but now it’s getting green and yellow of spring flowers.
April is the time for starting in Japan. Schools, kinder gardens, companies, and everything start their new years in April. Children and young people step into their new lives in spring. Oh, it’s the same for elderly people. They usually retire in this season.
Japan is facing the super aging now, People usually retire at sixty, but they can get their pension at sixty-five. The government is planning it at 70! They have to live until then with no income. So many people keep working, but usually very cheep. The pension is decreasing, and the money for social insurance is increasing, and the media says everyday that the increasing old people are the heavy burden to the society, to the young generation. What should we, old generation, do? Long lives are not celebrated.