あとのまつり

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　A：　ああ、今日の雨で桜も散ってしまうね。先週お花見に行けばよかった。
　B：　そんなこといってもあとの祭りだよ。
　
Ato no Matsuri
A: Aa, kyoo no ame de sakura mo chitte shimau ne.
Senshuu o-hanami ni ikeba yokatta.
B: Sonna koto ittemo ato no matsuri da yo.

A: Ah, all this rain today will bring the cherry blossoms down. We should have gone to see them last week.
B: There's no point in saying that, it's too late now.

* * *
It's a waste of time going to see a festival after it's all over and the expression ato no matsuri is used in Japanese to express the idea of letting time slip by and missing one's chance.
The cherry blossoms that we all look forward to, through the long, dark winter, bloom only for a week. So it is unfortunate when it rains heavily causing the blossoms to fade in color and fall. Whatever the weather, however, you can be sure that places like Ueno Park will be full of people who have come to enjoy the cherry blossoms, particularly at night (yozakura kenbutsu), although their real purpose is less to admire the flowers than to drink, eat and sing (hana yori dango-dumplings more than flowers).
The gradual flowering of the blossoms is described as: sanbu zaki (30 percent open), gobu zaki (50 percent), shichibu zaki (70 percent) and mankai (in full bloom).
The weather forecast also gives details of the "cherry blos som front" (sakura zensen) explaining when and where the flowers can be seen across the country.
Sakura fubuki ("cherry storm") refers to the clouds of blossoms falling from the trees. For the Japanese sakura is a synonym for spring.