Fukuoka: Approaching Full Bloom

Fresh from yesterday's report from Kumamoto where the blossoms were right on the cusp of full bloom, today I dropped in on Fukuoka City in Kyushu to check the progress at two more popular viewing sites.

Overall, I found both sites to be just a little behind what I saw in Kumamoto, with about 40-50% of blooms already open. Despite some beautiful scenes, which were already attracting quite a few other visitors braving a sprinkling of rain, I predict that the best is still to come with peak viewing conditions to begin from around Sunday.

Located in the heart of the city within Maizuru Park, the Fukuoka Castle Ruins are the city's most popular cherry blossom viewing site with many trees scattered amongst its surviving gates and stone walls. While I noticed a little bit of variation - a few lighter branches to the south and a few fuller ones in the upper part and to the west - overall about 50% of flowers were already open.

With this in mind, while there were already some beautiful scenes to enjoy, I expect the best possible viewing experience to begin in a couple of days, from around the 30th.

My second and final stop of the day was a 20 minute walk to the southwest in Nishi Park, home to one of the city's important Shinto shrines and dominated by a broad, paved approach. Once again, there was a bit of variation here between lighter-looking trees around the shrine entrance and more developed blossoms in the park's grassy interior.

Overall however, I felt the blooms were at around 50%, with the peak experience also beginning from around Sunday.