aiko -- Sakura no Toki（桜の時）

With the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) scouring civilization right now, including my former home of Japan and my home country of Canada, there have been worries regarding whole populations and financial institutions. As well, various events have been impacted including exhibition baseball games and concert venues in Japan with the former being played to empty stadiums in consideration of curbing the spread. There have even been worries about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics although I think unless things get really, really bad there, the Games will most likely go ahead.

Now, I'm also wondering how this may influence the annual cherry blossom viewing festivals in the nation. Depending on the weather, they would usually start up within the next few weeks, but with COVID-19 going through Japan, I wonder whether they will be banned. For those who have never been to one there, it's a big sign of spring and it's a huge affair with tons of people crowding the parks filled with cherry trees and then spreading out blue tarp and blankets to spend hours noshing, drinking and carousing. I've been to a few during my time in the Tokyo area, including one at Ueno Park in which we had to beat a hasty retreat since a lot of drunks started to aggressively cadge free drinks off of us.

Last week, aiko made an appearance on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）to sing one of her most recognized songs, "Sakura no Toki" (Cherry Blossom Time). This was her 5th single from February 2000 (yup, 20 years ago), and I remember it because of that melody by aiko which swings along like a good old-fashioned Beatles song. Maybe there's even something rather 70s about it, but it just seemed so nostalgic even when I first heard it.

As I've said now and then, I never paid too much attention to the lyrics so it's only been recently that I realized that her words expressed a woman's walk under the cherry trees with the man of her dreams while hoping that this wonderful feeling between isn't just restricted to cherry blossom season. I was able to find the English translation to "Sakura no Toki" at JPopAsia.

"Sakura no Toki" peaked at No. 12 on Oricon, going Gold. It was also included in a Calpis Water commercial (I did wonder if they had a cherry-flavoured version of the drink). Logically, the song was also provided in aiko's 2nd album "Sakura no Ki no Shita"（桜の木の下...Under the Cherry Tree）which came out in March 2000. That did even better than the single by hitting No. 1 and becoming the No. 10 album of the year, becoming a million-seller. Of course, aiko's next single, "Boyfriend"（ボーイフレンド）, shot her up into the stratosphere.