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Cherry Blossom Report 2011
Official cherry blossom reports by japan-guide.com

This year's cherry blossom season will be overshadowed by the tremendous loss caused by the recent earthquake. However, we believe that the blossoms will serve as symbols of hope and resilience and a source of motivation along Japan's road to recovery. With this in mind, we never hesitated to go ahead with our annual reports in order to inform travelers in Japan and readers across the world about this year's cherry blossom season.

2011 Cherry Blossom Forecast - Schedule of upcoming reports - Post your own report
Popular cherry blossom spots - How to do hanami? - Cherry tree varieties

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2011/04/19 - Tokyo Report
by scott

Today I set out on our final Tokyo cherry blossom report trip of the year. As expected, the season has either ended or is quickly coming to a close at the majority of the famous hanami spots around the city.

Shinjuku Gyoen
April 19, 2011 - end of season (somei yoshino)
April 19, 2011 - full bloom (late blooming varieties)

Since my last visit to Shinjuku Gyoen on April 14, 2011 the somei yoshino cherry blossoms have definitely reached the end of the season. A few hours of rain showers this morning have knocked down the majority of the remaining petals and the green leaves are beginning to dominate the trees.

The focus of the season has clearly shifted to the wide variety of late blooming cherry trees, which there are quite a large number of planted around Shinjuku Gyoen. The Kanzan and Ichiyo cherry blossoms, the more prominent of the late blooming varieties found around the park, have reached full bloom and will continue to be at their peak for at least the next few days.

Chidorigafuchi
April 19, 2011 - end of season

Next I headed over to Chidorigafuchi, the northwest portion of the moat around the grounds of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Very few people were strolling the paths along the river today as the trees here have lost nearly all of their petals and the season has effectively ended here. Boat rentals along the moat have also stopped.

Imperial East Gardens
April 19, 2011 - end of season (somei yoshino)
April 19, 2011 - full bloom (late blooming varieties)

Today was our first and only visit to the Imperial East Gardens during this year's cherry blossom season. The gardens are located on the inner most grounds of the former Edo Castle in central Tokyo. There are perhaps a few dozen somei yoshino trees scattered around the former castle's main circle (honmaru), which were already mostly green today.

I also saw quite a few late blooming cherry blossom varieties planted around the honmaru, including kanzan, ukon, and ichiyo trees which were at full bloom today. They look like they will continue to be at their peak for at least the next few days.

Meanwhile there were only a handful of cherry trees found around the Japanese style Ninomaru garden located in the castle's former second circle (ninomaru). Generally these have also lost the majority of their petals and were beyond peak today.

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List of Posts:
2011/05/09 - Sapporo Report
2011/05/06 - Hakodate Report
2011/05/02 - Kakunodate Report
2011/05/01 - Hirosaki Report
2011/04/29 - Kitakami Report
2011/04/22 - Aizu Report
2011/04/21 - Sendai Report
2011/04/20 - Fujigoko Report
2011/04/19 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/16 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/15 - Osaka Report
2011/04/14 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/14 - Kanazawa Report
2011/04/13 - Yoshino Report
2011/04/12 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/12 - Okayama Report
2011/04/11 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/11 - Takamatsu Report
2011/04/10 - Osaka Report
2011/04/10 - Matsuyama Report
2011/04/09 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/08 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/08 - Yoshino Report
2011/04/07 - Hiroshima Report
2011/04/07 - Iwakuni Report
2011/04/07 - Nagoya Report
2011/04/06 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/05 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/04 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/03 - Fukuoka Report
2011/04/02 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/01 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/01 - Kagoshima Report
2011/03/31 - Kumamoto Report
2011/03/31 - Fukuoka Report
2011/03/30 - Tokyo Report
2011/03/30 - Kochi Report
2011/03/29 - Kyoto Report
2011/03/28 - Himeji Report
2011/03/27 - Tokyo Report