Video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d_-IYYSF7g

Sakura Playing Cards by Francis and Dominic Garcia is a limited-edition deck printed by USPCC.

They are swooned over during picnics. They are painstakingly painted. They are obsessed over in poems. They are cited as a symbol of the transient nature of life. And they are sprinkled on Starbucks lattes.

Welcome to Japan's pink and modern world of cherry blossoms. It is impossible to think of springtime Japan without an iconic image of a sea of cherry trees awash with perfect pink blooms instantly coming to mind.

This Deck includes one of the first Japanese cherry blossom themed designs.

The flowers are deeply symbolic: their short-lived existence taps into a long-held appreciation of the beauty of the fleeting nature of life, as echoed across the nation’s cultural heritage, from tea ceremonies to wabi sabi ceramics. The blossoms also, quite literally, symbolise new beginnings, with April 1 being the first day of both the financial and academic year in Japan.

In a nutshell? The cherry blossoms are not just pretty pink flowers: they are the floral embodiment of Japan's most deep-rooted cultural and philosophical beliefs.