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by Francois, staff writer of japan-guide.com

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2010/03/26 - Cherry Blossom Report: Nagoya

The cherry blossom front is advancing into the more populous areas of Japan, and today the japan-guide.com staff is reporting from four locations around central Honshu. Scott looked into the progress of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, to the west Schauwecker went to both Himeji and Nara, and and I was in the middle looking for flowers in Nagoya.

Nagoya is not very advanced and most likely will not reach full bloom until next week. Nonetheless, there were quite a few people taking part in hanami.

Nagoya Castle
March 26, 2010 - opening (10-50%)

My first destination of the day was Nagoya Castle, whose flowers are only between 20 and 30% open. Entrance to the castle grounds is paid, so visitors who come to see the cherry blossoms may as well also enter the castle building. There are many cherry tree varieties planted around the castle grounds, some of which are early blooming and much further advanced than the regular somei yoshino type of trees.

I was able to get a good view of the general state of the castle's cherry trees by looking out from the top floor of the main keep. Unfortunately, the view points were obstructed by windows which made it difficult to get a clear picture.

Some of the best flowers I found were the weeping cherry trees (shidare) found beside the castle's west entrance. The cherry trees that lined the moat to the south of the castle were also quite developed and dense, and I suspect they'll be one of the best cherry blossom spots within the castle in the upcoming days.

Tsuruma Park
March 26, 2010 - opening (10-50%)

From Nagoya Castle I took the subway to Tsuruma Park, and when exiting the underground area I came immediately upon some attractive cherry trees. Even though it was the afternoon on a weekday, there was a number of hanami parties taking place.

The trees around the grove were 40-50% open, and since the lower parts of the trees were blooming faster the overhead of the party goers was quite dense with flowers.

Surrounding the park there are a number of public facilities, such as schools and sports areas. Many people were walking through the park to reach those buildings, which I imagine is an irregularly pleasant end to a regular commute.

There are many small paths that cut through the park along which cherry trees can be found, but the grove where the cherry blossom parties were being held was surely the best location in the park to find flowers.

Yamazakigawa Riverside
March 26, 2010 - just opened (0-10%)

The last stop of the day was Yamazakigawa Riverside. When we wrote our report from Yamazakigawa last year, the trees made an impressive tunnel of flowers and I was hopeful that today I might also find the riverside in a similar state. However, today less than 10% of the flowers have opened on average, with many trees showing almost no flowers at all.

There are hundreds of cherry trees lining the riverside, and like last year I am sure they make for a great cherry blossom spot when they start to become fuller next week. Today I found that there were some spots in the northern part of Yamazakigawa where the trees were more developed than average.

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List of Posts:
2011/09/01 - Final Post
2011/05/09 - Cherry Blossom Report: Sapporo
2011/05/06 - Cherry Blossom Report: Hakodate
2011/04/22 - Cherry Blossom Report: Aizu
2011/04/21 - Cherry Blossom Report: Sendai
2011/04/16 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2011/04/15 - Cherry Blossom Report: Osaka
2011/04/14 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kanazawa
2011/04/13 - Cherry Blossom Report: Yoshino
2011/04/12 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2011/04/11 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2011/04/08 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2011/04/04 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2011/04/03 - Cherry Blossom Report: Fukuoka
2011/04/01 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kagoshima
2011/03/31 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kumamoto
2011/03/30 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2011/02/11 - Shiretoko Fantasia 2011
2011/02/11 - Asahikawa Winter Festival - by night
2011/02/10 - Asahikawa Winter Festival - by day
2011/02/09 - Sapporo Snow Festival 2011 - by night
2011/02/08 - Otaru Yuki Akari no Michi 2011
2011/02/07 - Sapporo Snow Festival 2011 - by day

2010/12/31 - Travel Highlights 2010
2010/11/26 - Autumn Color Report: Osaka
2010/11/26 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2010/11/25 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2010/11/24 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2010/11/23 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2010/11/16 - Autumn Color Report: Tokyo
2010/11/05 - Autumn Color Report: Yamadera
2010/10/27 - Autumn Color Report: Kuju
2010/10/26 - Autumn Color Report: Kirishima
2010/04/10 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2010/04/09 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kanazawa
2010/04/08 - Cherry Blossom Report: Osaka
2010/04/07 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2010/04/05 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2010/04/01 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2010/03/30 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2010/03/26 - Cherry Blossom Report: Nagoya
2010/03/25 - Cherry Blossom Report: Nagasaki
2010/03/22 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kumamoto
2010/03/21 - Cherry Blossom Report: Fukuoka
2010/01/23 - Wakakusa Yamayaki

2009/12/31 - Travel Highlights 2009
2009/11/26 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2009/11/25 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto Light Up
2009/11/23 - Autumn Color Report: Nara
2009/11/22 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto Ohara
2009/11/21 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto
2009/11/18 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto Higashiyama
2009/11/16 - Autumn Color Report: Kyoto Kurama
2009/11/04 - Autumn Color Report: Hakone
2009/10/07 - Autumn Color Report: Hachimantai
2009/10/06 - Autumn Color Report: Mount Akita-Komagatake
2009/09/28 - Autumn Color Report: Kamikochi
2009/09/24 - Autumn Color Report: Oze National Park
2009/06/18 - Biking the Shimanami Kaido
2009/06/01 - Gunkanjima
2009/04/15 - Cherry Blossom Report: Osaka
2009/04/15 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2009/04/14 - Cherry Blossom Report: Himeji
2009/04/14 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kobe
2009/04/13 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kanazawa
2009/04/12 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2009/04/05 - Cherry Blossom Report: Yoshino
2009/04/04 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2009/04/03 - Cherry Blossom Report: Nara
2009/04/02 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kobe
2009/04/01 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2009/03/31 - Cherry Blossom Report: Himeji
2009/03/30 - Cherry Blossom Report: Kyoto
2009/03/29 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2009/03/26 - Cherry Blossom Report: Tokyo
2009/01/19 - Bears in Hokkaido

2008/12/03 - Autumn Color Report: Kamakura
2008/10/06 - Autumn Color Report: Lake Akan
2008/08/18 - Miyajima Trip
2008/06/09 - Post Towns
2008/05/08 - Baseball Game
2008/04/14 - ASIMO and Aoyama Cemetery
2008/04/08 - Ninja Restaurant