One of the most significant and delightful aspects of Japanese culture is the appreciation of subtle beauty. It's easy to imagine why lots of people would want to go out and enjoy the cherry blossoms every year - they're like fairyland trees when they're in full bloom - but katakuri are a less obvious cause of celebration. They're tiny wildflowers, little pink droplets of color on the floor of the still bare forest. Mixed with the blues and whites and yellows of the other wildflowers, they bring the spring to the Hokkaido forest, and hundreds of people were out yesterday to enjoy their beauty. And these are not fair-weather flower fans either; the sun was bright and the sky was blue but it was really really windy, windy enough that someone might have thought, you knkow, maybe I'll stay home and watch TV. We had to keep Kota well-shielded from the wind, but it was nice to have a little hike together, his first.