Moving northwards from Hirosaki, where I was yesterday, I crossed the sea over to Hakodate in Hokkaido to bring you our penultimate cherry blossom report. The cherry blossom season in southern and western Hokkaido is...

The second half of April is typically when the cherry blossom season peaks in the north, especially in the Tohoku Region. Today, I visited Hirosaki, specifically Hirosaki Park, three days after Matt was here last...

One day on from my very enjoyable visit to Kakunodate, I today found myself in Hirosaki Castle Park, home to a reconstructed castle and the most famous cherry blossom viewing spot in Japan’s northern Tohoku...

Following on from yesterday’s report from Aizu-Wakamatsu, I today visited the historic town of Kakunodate, located some 270 kilometers to the north in Akita Prefecture. Despite being just slightly late to get the...

With this year’s season now largely at an end in Kansai and Kanto, I today followed the cherry blossom front line north into Japan’s Tohoku region where things are still in full swing, or in some cities just getting...

It has been almost a month since we began our cherry blossom reporting, starting with the first couple of reports in Tokyo on March 18 and Kyoto on March 20, when the blossoms were still closed. The cherry blossoms in...

Today I went to the Fuji Five Lakes region to check out the state of the blossoms at some of the popular cherry blossom spots in the area specifically around the Lake Kawaguchiko area and at Oshino Hakkai. The region...

Following on from yesterday’s report from Kyoto where the season was already rapidly nearing its end, today I made a stop at Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture, where for many cities the season is still in full swing...

In the space of just a couple of days, the season across much of the country has passed its peak and begun to wind down. Following my report yesterday from the Kobe area, I was today in Kyoto for our final report of...

Full bloom in Tokyo was officially announced on April 4, and the weekend that passed was one of the best times for cherry blossom viewing parties. Five days since my last report in Tokyo and after yesterday’s heavy...

After a very enjoyable day reporting from Onomichi where I found the blossoms still looking very beautiful but nearing the end of best viewing, I today visited three sites in and around Kobe to see how things were...

This year’s cherry blossom season continues to progress quickly, with many major cities now well into their period of optimal viewing. With heavy rain around much of the country from yesterday into today however, it...

This year’s cherry blossom season continues apace, with the frontline already reaching into Japan’s northern Tohoku Region - Sendai officially announced the arrival of full bloom on Saturday, while the opening of buds...

A day on from yesterday’s reports, where Raina found three sites in Tokyo to be at or on the verge of full bloom while I visited Kanazawa and Fukui City, today I found myself in Kyoto to check in on the blossoms at...

In a short three days since the last time Matt visited Tokyo on April 1, when there were scant open blossoms, full bloom was declared in Tokyo yesterday, April 4. Today, I visited three epopular cherry blossom spots...

I began my day at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa - generally considered one of Japan’s top three traditional landscape gardens...

We are now in the best viewing period of the cherry blossom season, specifically for cities that announced the opening of their first blossoms (kaika) at the end of March. Full bloom was officially announced in Tokyo...

It has been about a week since the opening of the first blossoms were announced in western Japan and Tokyo. The cherry blossom season is currently at best viewing in cities in Kyushu like Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Saga and...

Continuing our cherry blossom reporting, I visited Matsuyama in Shikoku today. The city reported the opening of its first blossoms on March 27, and I observed that many of the cherry blossoms were still closed seven...

Following on from Raina’s report from Kyoto yesterday, I spent today in Tokyo checking in on three of its most popular cherry blossom sites.With many parts of the country experiencing unusually cold weather in...

It has been two days since the opening of the first blossoms was announced in Kyoto on March 29, and today, I revisited Kyoto to check on the progress of the cherry blossoms. Despite the relatively few open blossoms,...

This year’s cherry blossom season started slow and a little later compared to the average year, due to the below-average temperatures for a large proportion of March. However, the temperatures since Friday have been...

After several days of cooler than average temperatures in the last seven days, today’s warm weather provided the much needed heat for the buds to open. Tokyo and Kyoto both announced the opening of their first...

The opening of the first blossoms in Fukuoka was announced on March 27, and I visited the city today, one day after the official announcement. Judging from the minuscule number of open mainstream Somei Yoshino...

This year we started our cherry blossom reporting on March 18, when Schauwecker reported that the blossoms in Tokyo were still closed. I visited Tokyo two days ago to find that the blossoms were still closed, one week...

Hiroshima is not usually among the very first cities to see the cherry blossoms open, but this year it was only the fourth prefectural capital to record kaika, the opening of the blossoms, on March 25 (after Naha on...

Today, I visited Tokyo to check the state of the blossoms. It has been a week since Schauwecker kicked off this year’s sakura reporting with two reports in Tokyo and Kyoto on March 18 and 19 respectively, and reported...

After checking on the Tokyo blossoms a couple days ago, I made an early visit to Kyoto today to check on the process of the season there, taking a good look at the buds at a few of the city’s popular hanami...

Welcome to the 2024 cherry blossom reports! Over the coming weeks we will accompany the annual spectacle as it traverses the Japanese archipelago, reporting the state of the blossoms at famous and lesser known hanami...