Since it’s cherry blossom season, I just have to share this song.Β This is the 2019 re-recording of Naotaro Moriyama’s hit song “Sakura”.Β I remember when the original came out in 2003.Β Normally I’m drawn to flashy music videos, and the original video for this song was even plainer than the remake (just Moriyama singing next to the piano, with a static camera), but the song was so beautiful, it caught my attention.Β It obviously caught a lot of people’s attention, because it became the #3 best-selling song of 2003, and still charted in the top 50 in the following year.Β The song is about parting ways on a new journey, with the promise to meet again.Β It became very famous and is popular as a graduation song.Β When I went to Japan during the cherry blossom season in 2017, I was delighted to hear the song as a jingle at the train station.Β It really made me feel like, “Ah! This is Japan.”