Many visitors from around the world travel to Japan to see the spring cherry blossoms. Not everyone is lucky enough to see the cherry blossoms at their best.
In Tokyo this year the cherry blossoms started to open on March 25, a day or so earlier than last year. We arrived in Tokyo last year in the evening of April 1 and stayed for four days, going to Kyoto for five days visiting Yoshinoyama mountain and Nara. Then going on to Okinawa for a few days before returning to Tokyo
The weather in Tokyo was dull when we arrived as you will see when viewing the Kitanomaru park images. Rain while the blossom is at it’s peak causes the blossoms to drop and so you can see this in my Shinjuku Gyoen video taken just as the sun returned after the heavy rain of the previous day.
There are white cherry blossoms and pink cherry blossoms that can blossom at different times. In Tokyo the pink cherry blossoms are at the their best between the middle and end of April. Going south to Kyoto the blossoms can peak a little later than Tokyo and in the mountain areas they also blossom later.
This blossoms page includes video taken at the Tokyo Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden where you will see the white cherry blossoms dropping and some pink cherry blossoms at their peak. Click on the Nikon picture thumbs for larger pop up images. The first video is a short YouTube Ultra HD sample which includes areas of Japan that we visited.
Also included is video of mount Yoshino the train station, cable car ride up to the village and mountain views high up above the village.
Tokyo Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden video courtesy of Crystal Renewable Power Corp.
Click on my In2clicks.com Tokyo and Kyoto page links for images, video and travel information from my 2009 tour of Japan.