The Cost

For the people of Japan's evacuation zone

Cherry Blossom Time

The air is bright with birdsong

and a million cherry trees in flower

- it's where no human beings can go

No children's fingers there to bleed

no workers there to lie at rest in shade

or drink the water from the spring

Birds can't pick the low twigs clean

the fruit will fall to stain the ground

- the skin will rot

And leave the stones

exposed below the trees

in rings

Where moles will build

more heaps of dirt and grey

cats catch their prey

gw2012

LATEST: According to one Japanese source there are plans to seal part of the affected area with an 88 km (54.68 miles) wall made from steel and painted over. The colour blue has been mentioned as a possibility. If that's the case, I'd like to suggest the sea-and-sky-blue patch design still visible in the radioactive ruins as an appropriate pattern for the wall.

A legendary 1,000 year old cherry tree growing near Fukushima used to attract 300,000 visitors whenever it flowered. Like many other attractions it is unfortunately now out of bounds. The tree shown in the above photograph is in Vienna, Austria.