Cherry Blossom Reports 2017

Season Summary
The blossoms started opening early in Tokyo, but subsequent cold temperatures pushed back full bloom to average or delayed timings in many parts of western and eastern Japan. Warm weather later in April sped up the season in northern Japan.
Best Viewing (2017)
Tokyo
April 2 - 10
Kyoto
April 7 - 15

Sapporo: Full Bloom

Full Bloom
This year’s cherry blossom season began in Tokyo six weeks ago and since then location after location has seen the blossoms come and go, with now even areas in the very north of the mainland seeing their seasons...
By Sam Evans·

Hakodate

Full Bloom
It’s now six weeks since this year’s cherry blossom season kicked off in Tokyo, and now, after the blossoms have come and gone in the vast majority of the mainland, the season is getting well under way in the...
By Sam Evans·

Matsumae

Full Bloom
With this year’s cherry blossom season having come to an end in all but the northernmost parts of Honshu, now Hokkaido takes center stage, with many locations on Japan’s rugged, northern island entering their best...
By Sam Evans·

Hirosaki

Petals Starting To Fall
Squeezing in one more cherry blossom report from the Tohoku Region before the weekend, I visited Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture again three days after my last visit. The last time I reported that the mainstream...
By Raina Ong·

Morioka

Petals Starting To Fall
Today, I headed to the capital city of Iwate Prefecture, Morioka to check out the cherry blossoms in the city. Full bloom (mankai) was announced on April 24, three days ago, but I found that the petals have started...
By Raina Ong·

Kakunodate

Full Bloom
Today I headed to one of the Tohoku Region’s most famous cherry blossom spots, Kakunodate. The entire town has about 1500 cherry trees while the places I visited today, namely the Samurai District and the Hinokinai...
By Raina Ong·

Hirosaki

Full Bloom
Continuing with our cherry blossom reporting in the Tohoku Region, I headed to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture today. The castle is located in Hirosaki Park, and has over 2500 cherry trees of different varieties....
By Raina Ong·

Aizu

Full Bloom
The cherry blossom season has begun to hit its peak stride in the Tohoku Region this week, with cities like Aizu Wakamatsu, Kitakami and Hirosaki having just reached full bloom.While the season has finished in...
By Joe Mignano·

Kitakami

Full Bloom
We kick off the new week continuing our reporting from the Tohoku Region. Joe visited both Sendai and Fukushima last week and you can read his reports here. Today, I visited Kitakami in Iwate Prefecture and found...
By Raina Ong·

Mount Fuji

Full Bloom
With this year’s cherry blossom season all but over in many low and southern areas of Japan, now all eyes are on the country’s high and northern areas, of which many are approaching, if not already having entered,...
By Sam Evans·

Matsumoto

Petals Starting To Fall
With this year’s cherry blossom season having largely come to an end in Japan’s more southern regions, now it is the northern and higher altitude portions of the country that take center stage, as many of them...
By Sam Evans·

Fukushima

Petals Starting To Fall
The cherry blossom season is reaching its height this week in many spots throughout the Tohoku and Chubu Regions of Japan as the blossoms move their way north towards Hokkaido (due to reach best viewing in the first...
By Joe Mignano·

Kyoto

End of Season
Northern Japan’s Tohoku Region and the mountainous central Chubu Region are beginning to take the spotlight in this year’s cherry blossom season, as many locations in these areas approach full bloom while most of...
By Sam Evans·

Sendai

Full Bloom
As the cherry blossom season is winding down in southern Japan and in Tokyo and Kyoto, the blossoms around central Japan’s mountainous Chubu Region and northern Tohoku Region are rapidly entering their best viewing...
By Joe Mignano·

Mount Fuji

Blossoms Opening
As we ease into mid April, the cherry blossom front line is heading towards the north and to places in higher elevations. The northern cities of Akita and Aomori in the Tohoku Region reported the opening of their...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

End of Season
A new week and a new chapter for this year’s cherry blossoms, with various major viewing spots nearing or at the end of their sakura season. On the plus side, Japan’s higher and more northern locations are now coming...
By Sam Evans·

Akagi

Full Bloom
While the best viewing period for cherry blossoms in Tokyo has passed, hope is certainly not lost for those still wanting to see some blossoms around the Kanto Region. Besides catching some of the late-blooming...
By Jess McCullough·

Tomioka

Full Bloom
The cherry blossom season is often seen as a time of new beginnings in Japan. This year, for the town of Tomioka in Fukushima Prefecture, both the symbol and the meaning couldn’t be more real.Six years ago on March...
By Joe Mignano·

Yoshino

Full Bloom
This year’s cherry blossom season has been developing nicely, with many spots in southern and central Japan already in full bloom and beyond. One spot that is traditionally later to develop however is the most famous...
By Sam Evans·

Kyoto

Full Bloom
This year’s cherry blossom season is developing nicely with the majority of the major viewing spots in south and central Japan in full bloom and beyond. This being said, the focus for many sakura fanatics is now on...
By Sam Evans·

Tokyo

Petals Starting To Fall
The 2017 cherry blossom season is well underway, with excitement now building for the opening of the blossoms in north and high places including Takayama and the Fuji Five Lakes region; both of which are predicted to...
By Sam Evans·

Hiroshima

Petals Starting To Fall
Today, I headed back to Hiroshima, nine days after my last visit. The last time, the flowers were just opening, and today, they have reached their peak and the petals have started falling. Yesterday’s cool...
By Raina Ong·

Himeji

Petals Starting To Fall
We are now in mid April, and almost all of the cities in the regions of Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku, Kinki, Chubu and Kanto reached full bloom (mankai). Today’s rain and strong winds would have caused the petals fall in...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

Full Bloom
Last week and over the weekend, cherry blossoms all over southern and central Japan--from Kyushu as far north as Tokyo and Kanazawa--have reached full bloom, beginning the season’s peak week for many of the...
By Joe Mignano·

Kyoto

Full Bloom
With nearly every city in western Japan having declared their sakura season to be in full bloom (mankai), now we can only hope the pedals hold as long as possible to preserve the peak viewing conditions. Last Friday...
By Andrew Marston·

Yoshino

Blossoms Opening
Today, I head to Japan’s most famous cherry blossom spot, Mount Yoshinoyama in Nara Prefecture. There are about 30,000 cherry trees planted on the mountain slopes and many of them are of the Yamazakura variety.Rain...
By Raina Ong·

Osaka

Full Bloom
Full bloom (mankai) in Osaka was announced on April 6, two days ago, and that was where i went today. Accordingly to the official announcement of mankai, the cherry trees I saw today were at their peak and very...
By Raina Ong·

Kyoto

Full Bloom
The last time Sam was in Kyoto, he reported that the blossoms were opening. Today, three days after our last visit, full bloom (mankai) was officially announced in Kyoto. Rain is forecast for Saturday, but should...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

Full Bloom
The 2017 cherry blossom season is moving along nicely, with multiple cities entering their best viewing periods in the past few days. Yesterday, Raina and myself reported from two such cities; Fukuoka and Nagoya, and...
By Sam Evans·

Kamakura

Blossoms Opening
With all cities in western Japan having officially declared their 2017 sakura season open (kaika), now everyone is focused on when full bloom (mankai) will happen.Earlier this week Tokyo officially declared that it...
By Andrew Marston·

Iwakuni

Approaching Full Bloom
Moving eastwards from Fukuoka, I headed to Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The city is best known for its structurally unique Kintai-kyo Bridge. The opening of the first blossoms (kaika) at Kintai-kyo Bridge were...
By Raina Ong·

Nagoya

Approaching Full Bloom
This past couple of days has seen a fair bit of development on the cherry blossom front, with Fukuoka and now Hiroshima following in Tokyo’s footsteps by entering their best cherry blossom viewing periods. Following...
By Sam Evans·

Fukuoka

Approaching Full Bloom
Today, I returned to Fukuoka, three days after my last report there. As expected, many more blossoms have opened thanks to the warm temperatures and full bloom (mankai) was officially announced for the city today,...
By Raina Ong·

Kyoto

Blossoms Opening
Kyoto’s cherry blossom season has recently commenced, with Raina keeping us informed of the sakura’s preliminary progress this past weekend. Since then, the city has seen warmer temperatures that are set to hold for...
By Sam Evans·

Kumamoto

Blossoms Opening
Continuing with my tour of western Japan, I headed to Kumamoto on the west coast of Kyushu. The opening of the first blossoms (kaika) in Kumamoto was announced on April 1. I visited the popular cherry blossom viewing...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

Blossoms Opening
In line with Sam’s predictions last Friday, this seems to be the week to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. After a relatively cold spring which seemed to delay the 2017 sakura season, finally temperatures are...
By Andrew Marston·

Hiroshima

Blossoms Opening
Today, I headed to Hiroshima to see how the cherry trees were faring a week after the cherry blossom season was declared open on March 27, on par with the average year. The blossoms seem to be progressing at a slower...
By Raina Ong·

Fukuoka

Blossoms Opening
Today I found myself in Fukuoka, where the opening of the first blossoms (kaika) was announced on March 25. However cold temperatures in the days following the opening slowed down the progress of the blossoms opening....
By Raina Ong·

Kyoto

About To Open
The official start for Kyoto’s cherry blossom season kicked off yesterday on March 31 as expected after the warm temperatures on March 30. The official opening is announced when five or more open blossoms are observed...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

Blossoms Opening
Tokyo’s cherry blossom season has been an interesting one so far, having officially started ten days ago ahead of the rest of the country’s cities, but then, as Andrew reported earlier this week, stalling slightly due...
By Sam Evans·

Kyoto

About To Open
With the cherry blossom season underway in the Kanto Region, I headed west to Kyoto to check out the cherry blossoms today. The highest temperatures for today in the Kansai Region were over 20 degrees Celsius in both...
By Raina Ong·

Tokyo

Just Opened
Although Tokyo’s sakura season officially opened several days ahead of the rest of Japan, blossom develop seems to have temporarily stalled. Over the weekend temperatures were lower than average across the country...
By Andrew Marston·

Tokyo

Just Opened
Tokyo’s sakura season officially kicked off on March 21, five days earlier than average, and the earliest announcement of the opening of the first blossoms (kaika) in the country in the last five years..
By Raina Ong·

Kumamoto

About To Open
Today, I took a trip to another city revered among blossom chasers and traditionally among the country’s first cities to see the opening of the cherry blossoms...
By Sam Evans·

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