When flowers are the news

"I hope the white flowers will soothe my soul."

To practice reading in Japanese, I visit a website called NHK Web Easy. On that site the publisher NHK (e.g., like the BBC for Japan) rewrites Japanese news articles into an “easy to read” format. One of the things I enjoy most about peaking into Japanese news is observing the differences in which topics are covered compared to American newspapers. For example, I find NHK has more articles about Ukrainian refugees, more articles about price increases of produce, and a number of articles about avoiding heat-stroke in the summer.

Amidst the myriad differences between Western and Japanese news, however, there is one category that really catches my eye: I love reading news about blooming flowers.

---

To give you a sense for what I mean here is as an example of such an article from NHK (translated to English by Google; tweaked slightly for reading clarity):

Uji "Byodo-in lotus" in full bloom

At Byodo-in Temple in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, a registered World Heritage Site, the "Byodo-in lotus" is in full bloom with pure white flowers.

Every year at this time, Byodo-in Temple in Uji City displays lotus flowers, and this year, about 50 pots of pink and red flowers are in full bloom.

The "Byodo-in lotus" was grown from seeds found in strata from the Edo period during an excavation survey of the pond in the temple grounds 25 years ago. It is pure white, like the lotus flowers depicted on the murals of the national treasure "Phoenix Hall," and is characterized by its thinness that makes it transparent.

According to the temple, the flowers began to bloom last week due to the recent high temperatures, and this year there are many buds and the color of the flowers is good.

The head priest of Byodo-in Temple, Kamui Fumiaki, said, "Looking at the white flowers makes me feel very pure. I hope they will soothe my soul."

The best time to see the Byodo-in lotus flowers is until mid-July

---

“Looking at the white flowers makes me feel very pure. I hope they will soothe my soul."

Has The New York Times ever quoted anyone saying that they hoped seeing beautiful flowers would soothe their soul?

---

Another example:

500,000 lilies in full bloom in Iide Town, Yamagata

A lily garden in Iide Town, Yamagata Prefecture, is the largest in the Tohoku region, with 500,000 lilies in full bloom, delighting visitors.

[…] Colorful lilies are in bloom in the garden, and among them, one called "Lively", which has a tall stem and pink flowers, and "Patricia Pride", whose purple and white petals open wide upwards, are in full bloom.

According to the garden, due to the warm winter this year, the lilies began to bloom about a week earlier than usual, and are now 70% in bloom.

Visitors enjoyed taking photos and looking at their favorite lilies.

A woman in her 70s who visited from Tokyo said, "This is my first time here, and it's spectacular. It's a shame that it was raining, but it's cute even with the water droplets on it."

Daidouji Takashi, manager of the lily garden, said, "There are many lilies in the garden, so I think it'll be fun to find your favorite. There are also plants that complement the lilies, so I hope you enjoy the contrasting scenery."

The best time to see the lilies at Dondendaira Lily Garden is said to continue until the middle of next month.

---

One of the things I realize when I read these articles is that my mental model for what “the news” entails is human-biased and mostly negatively-biased. With the exception of natural catastrophes, almost everything in the news I read is about things a human is doing: elections, sports, pivotal political issues, human interest stories, cultural events. Human protagonists are the center around which the news revolves and usually there’s some drama to make it interesting.

And yet, these flower articles have nature as protagonist. The articles are not about the gardeners, nor the troubles and tribulations of the region or humans involved. There is no drama. The articles are all focused on the flowers’ beauty and their transience. They are also not about giant regional blooms but instead focused on one particular temple or one particular plot of land that has a beautiful bloom.

Obviously not all Japanese news is like this. Most articles are what you would expect: political issues, international news, important social topics… But interspersed amidst it all I find that these articles about flowers feel incongruous with my assumptions for what “the news” should be.

With instant communication and globalization it sometimes feels like the world is all homogenized: Taylor Swift, Netflix and jeans for everyone! Internet, iPhones and Facebook in every town. But right under the surface enormous differences remain that continue to make different parts of the world unique. Each country’s news is a partial window into what they find most important and how they see the world.

---

In June of this year, NHK had a headline calling everyone to witness a flower bloom in Kyoto that only lasts for one day before it falls to the ground:

"Natsutsubaki" likened to "Shara-sho" is in full bloom at Torin-in Temple, Kyoto

[…] Natsutsubaki flowers [Summer Camelia] bloom before dawn but fall by dusk, so they are also likened to the "flower of the Shara-sho" which appears at the beginning of the Tale of the Heike and represents the transience of the world.

In the garden, white flowers about 5 cm in diameter are blooming here and there, while the flowers that have finished blooming have fallen on the moss, and visitors are fascinated by the contrasting scenes while sitting on the veranda.

A woman in her 70s who visited from Osaka said, "It was worth getting up early to see the flowers blooming, even though they only live for a day."