According to a report in The Times of 27 March 2020, in Japan cherry [Prunus cv.] blossom being short-lived has always been a symbol of the transience of youth and beauty. And:  ‘during the Second World War, they were used by Japan’s militarist leaders to beautify the deaths of young soldiers, including kamikaze pilots’.  Cherry blossoms were painted on the pilots’ planes and they were ‘seen off by young girls waving cherry branches’.

Image: planted Tooting Common, London Borough of Wandsworth, April 2020.