Cherry Blossom Report 2014

Today, we bring you our last cherry blossom report for the year from Hakodate, Hokkaido. 2014 has been an early year for the sakura in Hokkaido,... read all

The year's cherry blossom season has entered its concluding phrase with the sakura currently blooming in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture. 2014 has been an early year for the cherry blossoms here:... read all

Today we headed north to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture for this year's final cherry blossom report from the Tohoku... read all

Picking up from where Raina left off, today we continued our Tohoku Region cherry blossom reporting with a visit to Kakunodate in... read all

Kitakami is under 3 hours away by bullet train from Tokyo, and that's where I headed today.... read all

Eight days after my last visit, I traveled to the Fuji Five Lakes area again to check out the situation of the cherry blossoms... read all

Today I continue the cherry blossom report from Morioka, the capital of Iwate prefecture, in the... read all

After a brief hiatus and continuing with cherry blossom reporting in the Tohoku region, I headed to Aizu-Wakamatsu today. Aizu-wakamatsu is in... read all

Over the last few days, Schauwecker and I have been travelling down the Sanriku Coast to gather information for our biannual recovery report.... read all

I made a trip to the Takato Castle Ruins Park in Nagano Prefecture this morning. Not much is left of the castle these days, but the park's claim to fame are the approximately 1500 Kohigan cherry... read all

After exploring Fukushima's cherry blossom spots yesterday, today I headed further north to Sendai in neighboring... read all

Today, I visited Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. The cherry trees at Matsumoto Castle and... read all

As the season presses on, the cherry blossom front has moved on beyond the popular sightseeing spots of Tokyo and Kyoto and into the northern... read all

Today, I visited the Fuji Five Lakes area (Lake Kawaguchiko in particular) to check out its popular cherry blossom spots. It was the... read all

For my last report from the Kansai Region, I headed back to Kyoto today. Sean was at the... read all

Sean went to Yoshinoyama four days ago and reported that while the blossom petals at the bottom of the mountain had started to fall, the flowers towards the top were... read all

Yesterday I mentioned that Sendai and Fukushima had their cherry blossom... read all

Today, I headed to Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, and the capital of Ishikawa prefecture. Being on the northern side and close to the Sea... read all

It has been nine days since the cherry blossom season peaked in Kyoto. Today, I visited the popular city again to report on some locations with later... read all

The year's cherry blossom season gradually shifts north and the cherry trees are beginning to bear flowers in the Tohoku Region. In... read all

Today I visited western Tokyo, after being away in the Kansai region for the past week. Petals are starting to fall in Kyoto... read all

As the regular season comes to a close around Tokyo and Kyoto, Schauwecker and I headed out to check out Gunma Prefecture.... read all

Taking a special express train from Kyoto would take you to Hikone in a about an hour. Hikone is a city on the eastern shores of Lake Biwa, the largest lake... read all

Six days after the cherry trees in Kyoto were officially in full bloom, I returned to the nation's former capital to check out its cherry blossoms. I was delighted to find the... read all

The cherry blossom season is really starting to come to a close around Tokyo and Kyoto now with petals falling around most of the major sites across both cities.... read all

The last time I was here in Kyoto, it was full bloom and everywhere was just a sea of whitish pink cherry blossoms. Now, four... read all

After yesterday's cool weather and falling cherry blossom petals in Osaka, I headed west towards Hiroshima today. It has been five days since... read all

It was a rainy day in Matsuyama as I visited the city's cherry blossom spots with Schauwecker. The cherry blossom season started in... read all

After a quick visit to Kamakura this morning, I rushed over to Tokyo to check on the blossoms at Sumida Park and... read all

As the cherry blossoms continue to peak around Kyoto, the sakura season in Tokyo is starting to wind down. Over in... read all

After three days of beautiful weather, I woke up to slight rain and cooler temperatures today. Because of last night's rain and strong gusts... read all

After being in Tokyo and Nagoya the past two days, it is finally my turn to visit Kyoto after... read all

The peak period for cherry blossoms started this year on March 27 at Fukuoka, about five days earlier than the average year... read all

Most famous for Byodoin Temple, Uji is a city twenty train minutes south of Kyoto by JR Nara Line. Today I visited the town to... read all

Over the past few days, city after city across the county has reached full bloom, to the point that most of western Japan is now within the peak of the cherry... read all

Nagoya is 1.5 hours west of Tokyo and 35 minutes from Kyoto, famous for Nagoya Castle, and... read all

For the most of Kyushu, the cherry blossom season had begun slightly earlier this year than the average year, by about three to five days. Following that, continuous... read all

The festival spirit kicks in for Kyoto's sakura season. Under blue skies I arrived in Kyoto to check out some of its popular cherry blossom spots. Over the past week Scott had visited twice... read all

It has been four days since my last visit to Tokyo when the cherry trees just... read all

After spending the last few days enjoying the beautiful full bloom around Kyushu, it was time to head back to Kyoto to see how their... read all

Today I headed down to Kumamoto to check out the cherry blossoms around the city's popular hanami spots. The blossoms in Kumamoto officially reached full bloom... read all

The cherry blossoms continue to open up in cities across the country, including Kyoto and Osaka, both of which officially marked their... read all

Exactly three weeks after my early Tokyo blossom report, yesterday was the official start to Tokyo's sakura (cherry blossom) season.... read all

This year the cherry blossoms are expected to open more or less on an average schedule, with the exception of Kyushu and... read all