Sakura season

Tokyo's cherry blossoms are blooming and it finally looks like spring, but the weather still feels like winter. This past weekend saw the sakura at their peak but the cold weather made hanami (cherry blossom viewing parties) unthinkable.

The two pictures above were taken at the campus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where Hideaki, his sister's family and I took a quick peak at the flowers while passing by. And with a high that day of 10 degrees Celsius, a quick peak was all we were up for. Look how bundled up everyone is!

The weather finally turned nice yesterday, which is just as well as I had to go pick up my bike from the local train station (I had to leave it there few days ago because of an unexpected rainfall). The route to this station passes through two parks, both of which have a good number of cherry trees. These pictures of the nearest park, Oizumi Chuo Koen.

The racetrack, rimmed with cherry trees, was abandoned even though this is the nicest time of year to use it. Where was everyone?

The shibazakura (moss phlox) was not quite at its peak but still pretty enough to compete with the sakura.

The pond almost looked pretty for once (it is usually nothing more than a big mud puddle). 

This street separates not only two parks, but two prefectures: Tokyo is on the left and Saitama is on the right.

Traffic was unusually heavy (I had to wait quite a while to get these almost car-free shots) with drivers going slowly by to enjoy the tunnel of sakura.

When I turned around around from photographing the street, the pond had been taken over by little boys (with one big boy looking wistfully on). It's hard to see, but the boy in the centre has stripped down to his undies even though it was only about 16 degrees. I wondered what the boy on the left was trying to catch, until I saw them: three good sized turtles, clustered in the middle of the pond, well away from the net's reach. This is the first sign of life I've seen in the pond (which looked brand-new when we moved here five years ago) and I hope they're there to stay.

On my way home with my bike and a basket full of groceries I got to enjoy the luxury of a petal-lined path. I may not have been able to do hanami this year, but sidewalks strewn with cherry blossoms and camellias aren't so bad either.

See more sakura pictures, from this year and previous years, here.

Comments

[Tori]

It's so pretty! But a shame about being too cold for Hanami... I'm glad you've been able to post more frequently lately, I really love reading your blogs!!

[Makiki]

Absolutely beautiful! I hope to see it in person some time.

I really enjoy your blog and appreciate your efforts.

Alan from Makiki

[Robin]

What amazing pictures! I was there last year in Kyoto and Kamakura for the sakura and it was too beautiful for words.

[joeinvegas]

It still looks pretty

[Lauren Dunn]

wonderful...u r so blessed

[Beth]

These are amazing pictures --- I absolutely adore cherry blossom trees!

[ed]

Pretty surprised to see pictures of the sakura trees from my university in here.. O.o!

:D

[Aspasia]

Do the white-blossomed trees bloom before the pink-blossomed ones? Because the only trees flowering here at the moment look just like the ones in your photos, but I didn't think cherries would be blossoming so early. Anyway, gorgeous as usual (and I hope those kids didn't catch the turtles).

[Amy]

Thanks for the comments folks!

Aspasia, probably what you are seeing is ume (prunus mume, often called Japanese or Chinese plum or Japanese apricot). Both sakura and ume come in white, pink and everything in between, and each have so many varieties that it can sometimes be hard to tell them apart. In general sakura bloom more profusely than ume, have very little to no fragrance, and have longer petals with notches that make them look heart-shaped. Ume are often fragrant and have round petals. They also tend to be hardier than sakura so are more suited to Toronto weather.

Don't worry, the turtles were way smarter than the boys.