Today we leave on another adventure, which includes two river cruises and a train journey from Toronto to Vancouver.  During the Spring we usually find ourselves somewhere in Japan for the sakura blossoming.  The peak this year will be from the end of March to early April.  This time, we will see cherry blossoms virtually all across the USA and Canada, and, surprisingly enough, our timing is good. I spent three years working for the U.S. Senate in DC, and had memorable Sakura viewings.  Cherry blossoms are now blooming there, with a peak expected to be from the end of this month to early April.  The top three sites in the USA, according to Google AI, are the Tidal Basin in DC, Macon-Georgia and the University of Washington Quad in Seattle. First stop, Las Vegas.  And amazingly enough, Google AI mentions three locations. Gardens Park   (Summerlin):   Located at 10401 Garden Park Dr, this park features real cherry trees that bloom, offering a peacef...

When we were in Seoul, one of my postings was on the  most popular Korean songs from the 1950's to the present .  In Tokyo, I also did not quite finish something similar for Japan.  So today will be one of the fallouts from our recent 2-month adventure throughout the Orient. Similar to South Korea, Japan had a relatively recent big hit on Billboard:  Yoasobi's  Idol  reached #1 on the Billboard Global...Excluding the U.S., on 10June2023.  Well, not quite the same, for BTS hit #1 in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100 with  Dynamite ,  and followed at #1 with Savage Love ( complicated re-mix of Savage Love with Jason Derulo and Jawsh 685 ), Life Goes On, Butter, Permission to Dance and My Universe (with Coldplay).   Yoasobi is a Japanese musical duo formed in 2019 of producer Ayase ( on the left ) and vocalist Lilas Ikuta.  I asked Google AI about other recent Japanese hits. Other Japanese songs to hit the top 10 of the Global Excl. U...