Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Tokyo. It is like nothing I have ever seen! Just a few minutes walk from our apartment, there is a canal and all along the canal are cherry blossoms in full bloom. It’s a spectacular walk! In addition, there are cherry trees sometimes in groups and sometimes all alone, blooming all over this area of Tokyo. I have pictures that I will post to our photo gallery. Everyone had told me the cherry blossoms were truly impressive, but I did not expect to be so impressed. All year when I would tell people I would be here for a year, they often replied with, “Great, you will be able to see the sakura.” Now I understand why I so often got that response. Because they don’t blossom at the same time every year, some people, who have come to Tokyo many times, never have actually seen the cherry blossoms in full bloom. It truly is a sight worth seeing! Many Japanese have yearly sakura outing traditions. Everyone talks about the sakura coming, staying, and leaving.
On Saturday, after my yoga class, we went to Shinjuku Gyoen, a large national park or garden near us that David’s students had recommended for viewing sakura. However, when we got there at about 2:30 p.m. on the beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, we walked at least a block to try to locate the end of the line. We couldn’t see the end of the line, it was barely moving, and the park closed at 4:00. He decided to leave and return on Sunday morning.
On Sunday we went back to the park, getting there between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. We were determined to have our Japanese traditional outing to view the sakura. There was no line we entered easily. We will try to get our pictures up soon. We took so many pictures because the beauty just kept coming with every step in the park. I hope our pictures do the trees justice. Certainly, the pictures will be more clear than my words!
It is now a week later and the sakura are falling and green sprouts of leaves are replacing the white and pink blossoms! It is not as stunningly beautiful but certainly a clear sign of spring.
Beautiful pictures! They are really impressive! Seattle is gorgeous with petals as well, but these pictures are stunning!