Sakura Sakura

"Sakura Sakura" (さくら さくら, "Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms"), also known as "Sakura", is a traditional Japanese folk song depicting spring, the season of cherry blossoms. Contrary to popular belief, the song did not originate in ancient times; it was a popular, urban melody of the Edo period and was adopted as a piece for beginning koto students in the Tokyo Academy of Music Collection of Japanese Koto Music issued in 1888 (in English) by the Department of Education. The song has been popular since the Meiji period, and the lyrics in their present form were attached then. It is often sung in international settings as a song representative of Japan, and many electronic crosswalks in Japan play the melody as "guidance music".

In 2007, it was selected for Nihon no Uta Hyakusen, a collection of songs and nursery rhymes widely beloved in Japan.

In early 2010's, Japanese singer Kiyoshi Hikawa performed the second of the 2 verses of Sakura Sakura - the first and only Enka singer to do so.

Sakura Sakura (visual novel)

Sakura Sakura (さくらさくら) is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Haikuo Soft. It was released on June 26, 2009 for the PC as a DVD after making several postponements. The game is described by the development team as a "school dormitory romance see-saw game" (学園寮恋愛シーソーゲーム, Gakuen Ryō Ren'ai Shīsō Gēmu). The gameplay in Sakura Sakura follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Sakura Sakura requires little player interaction as most of the duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents either dialogue between characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonists. Similar to 2D platformers, Sakura Sakura allows the player to navigate through the dormitory from a profile side-view perspective. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where he or she is given the chance to choose from options that are displayed on the screen, typically two to three at a time. Gameplay pauses at these points until the player makes a choice, and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are multiple plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience. To view all of the plot lines, the player will need to replay the game multiple times, access different areas and make different choices to progress the plot in an alternate direction. One of the goals of the gameplay is to view the hentai scenes, depicting one of the protagonists having sexual intercourse with one of the heroines.