A photograph of a pink flower. The frame is narrow and the background is generic :
Blue sky, a few clouds – we are not familiar with the place. This could be anywhere.
Anytime.

In the final days of May 2011, the Iceland-Japan Society gifted the city of Reykjavík fifty cherry blossom trees that were planted in Hljómskálagarður Park.
The gift represented an everlasting friendship and peace between Japan and Iceland.

Gifting a cherry blossom tree as a token of peace is a longstanding tradition in Japan, often planted where war has raged, where men had lost their lives. The trees represent both birth and death, beauty and violence. In Japan, they also serve as an emblem for the short, yet colorful life of a Samurai warrior. Furthermore, the pink flowers adorned kamikaze airplanes in the Second World War.

But what about the cherry blossom trees at Hljómskálagarður Park? Must battles be raised to
plant peace?