花見！Flower viewing!

花 = "hana" or flower and 見 = "mi" or eye. While "hana" refers to flowers in general, this time of the year it more specifically means cherry blossoms (sakura) and/or plum blossoms (ume).

To celebrate the arrival of spring, the Japanese have little outdoor parties or picnics under these trees either during the day or in some special occasions, at night. These night parties are called 夜桜 ("yozakura") and include decorative and festive lanterns hung from the trees.

Hanami is of interest to just about every Japanese citizen, so much so that their weather service provides a 桜前線 ("sakurazensen" or "blossom report") to make best of your party planning. Below is such a report from the previous year.


My first sakura siting was in Nagoya in the castle's gardens. It was very overcast that day and towards the end of my tour, I saw some pink flowers in the distance. I was so excited that I interrupted my guide mid sentence to ask if they were cherry blossoms. She nodded and I ran ahead to see having completely lost interest in a statue she was explaining. I apologized for my rudeness but she found my elation amusing.


With as much anime, manga, TV and movies I've seen... the cherry blossom is omnipresent and I just couldn't help myself. Getting to see firsthand the delicate petals fall and speckle the ground like confetti was almost surreal.

Apparently, I wasn't the only person thrilled about this time of year. It was mid-March so some of the trees in Tokyo were just starting to bloom. While I was in Kamakura, there was one tree abloom near the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine and no less than a dozen photographers jostled for position to get pictures of the one branch they could get near.

I mentioned ume or plum blossoms above and I was fortunate to see one of those as well at Nagoya castle. They look just like sakura only white.

This entry is definitely photo heavy, but these beautiful flowers speak for themselves. I took more pictures of cherry trees than anything else on this trip and seeing the natives crowd around a blossoming tree on more than one occasion meant my fixation was the norm.