It’s that time of year again—cherry blossoms are popping up in every conversation, and Tokyo’s big sakura spots are packed with tourists. Domestic ones, sure, but lately, way more international folks too. After living in Japan for about a quarter of a century, we’re at the point where it’s just normal. Our cherry blossom pics from this year? You couldn’t tell them apart from last year’s or even the ones we took ten years back.

Recently, though, we’ve been dodging places like Ueno and Shinjuku Gyoen. Those spots are crawling with people, and we’re too old for that now. It’s not worth it anymore, and anyway, it’s not what us local Tokyoites would do. Instead, we just soak in the cherry trees we spot on the way to the station or work. The few in our little local park? Good enough. We’ll take a couple of shots, but no need to haul out the big, heavy cameras—iPhones handle it just fine.

Maybe we’ll toss a few pics on social media or fire them off to the family group chat. It’s our yearly tradition to remind everyone we’re still kicking it in Japan and, yeah, it’s gorgeous here this time of year. Plus, it’s our way of saying winter’s finally done. If we don’t snag that killer shot for the season, no big deal—we can just use one from a past year. Nobody’s gonna notice.

It’s the thought that counts, right?