The month of April marks cherry blossom season, and tourists are rushing to the cherry blossom capitals of the world to catch a glimpse of the trees’ fleeting pink blossoms and revel in cherry blossom festivals.
For those who can’t make a trip, the Unilever-owned Japanese beauty brand Lux has launched “Sakura Dream,” a Google Maps hack that will virtually plant the cherished trees in streets around in the world.
Be warned. Much like the notoriously hard-to-grow trees, the current version of the site has a few finicky limitations. It only works in areas where Google has done a street view sweep. (Sorry, Africa.) The graphics-heavy visualization is a bit slow and there’s no language translation for the Japanese language prompts.
But when it works, the program can turn the grittiest urban streetscape into a dreamy vista, with gently falling petals enough to inspire the gardener or the urban planner.
For those who don’t have instant translation on their browser, here’s a quick guide to the interface:
As Japan’s unofficial national flower, cherry blossom (or sakura) appears on the design of the 100 yen coin. And if the Google Maps hack leaves you with a hankering for the the real thing, the flowers are particularly spectacular in Matsumae, Japan; Copenhagen, Denmark; Macon, Georgia; and Washington, DC. In Washington, where over 3,000 trees line the tidal basin are in peak bloom this week, the National Park Service monitors their progress obsessively.