Day 21 - 17/01/1998: Plum Blossom: Just as people in Japan brighten up when they see the plum blossom (Ume) because it is the first flower to blossom in a sequence, which signifies the coming of spring and that climaxes with the cherry blossom (Sakura)1, there was brighter news for me at the end of this day with Ritsuko announcing that we would be going to Kagoshima the next day.
