Cherry blossoms send local and foreign viewers into raptures

Tourists and Japanese locals marvelled at Tokyo's cherry trees yesterday at the peak of the annual blossom season that traditionally represents fresh starts but also life's fleeting impermanence.

- 

Crowds flocked to the city's top locations to take photos and hold picnics under the elegant dark branches bursting with pink and white flowers, known as sakura in Japanese.

"It feels pretty amazing to be here. It's better than we expected. And it only comes around every once in a while and only for a short span of time," Christian Sioting, a tourist from the Philippines, said.