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Cherry Blossom Report 2014
Official cherry blossom reports by japan-guide.com

2014 Cherry Blossom Forecast - Schedule of upcoming reports - Popular cherry blossom spots
How to do hanami? - Cherry tree varieties - Post your own report

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2014/04/07 - Tokyo Report
by scott

Shinjuku Gyoen

The cherry blossom season is really starting to come to a close around Tokyo and Kyoto now with petals falling around most of the major sites across both cities. The flowers around Tokyo were already starting to fall during our visit last Friday and were in danger of being damaged by bad weather over the weekend. Luckily, it seems to not have been as bad as I was expecting.

Ueno Park
April 7, 2014 - beyond peak

My first stop this morning was to Ueno Park where the cherry trees are typically a little bit ahead of the rest of the city. On Friday the petals were already falling freely, so I was a little surprised to find that the branches weren't completely barren around the main cherry blossom tunnel yet. The majority of the trees were beyond peak though and their green leaves were starting to come out.

Ueno Park

The trees along the main cherry blossom tunnel were beyond peak

The situation further down at Shinobazu Pond was much better this morning. The trees down by the pond are a little behind the park's main cherry blossom tunnel and still had a good number of blossoms left on the branches.

Shinobazu Pond

Shinobazu Pond

Wedding portraits down at Shinobazu Pond

Shinjuku Gyoen
April 7, 2014 - petals starting to fall (Somei Yoshino)
April 7, 2014 - opening (10-50%) (late blooming varieties)

When we visited Shinjuku Gyoen last Wednesday the blossoms were at the peak of the peak. Since then the petals have been falling in droves around the park especially around the garden's large central lawns. It was far from uniform though, and while some areas had trees that were beyond peak, other areas had significant numbers of nice enough looking trees. In addition, the Somei Yoshino trees were still in prime condition for the occasional cherry blossom storm (hanafubuki), a favorite part of the end of the cherry blossom season.

Shinjuku Gyoen

Petals were falling freely around the park

Though that didn't stop people from picnicking

Some areas were beyond peak

Some trees still had quite a few petals

Other spring flowers were blooming underneath the cherry trees

Around one of Shinjuku Gyoen's large central ponds

The large trees around the Sendagaya Gate were freely dropping petals

As we've mentioned before, Shinjuku Gyoen has a wide variety of late blooming cherry trees. Many of these were just beginning to open today, and should prolong the season around the gardens as they continue to open over the coming weeks.

Later blooming cherry trees around the Sendagaya Gate

Later blooming weeping cherry trees

Ichiyo Zakura

Kanzan Zakura

Ukon Zakura

Showa Kinen Koen
April 7, 2014 - full bloom

My final destination today was a revisit to Showa Kinen Koen, a large city park near Tachikawa Station outside central Tokyo. When I stopped by last week, the 1500 cherry trees planted around the grounds were still approaching full bloom. Since then the blossoms have peaked and are currently at their best around the park and should remain nice for several more days. And with a good weather forecast for the next few days, it seems that there's no better time to visit the park.

Showa Kinen Koen

Full bloom

Hanami parties under the blossoms

Showa Kinen Koen

Along the walkways

More hanami parties

Nanohana and sakura

Along the bike paths

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List of Posts:
2014/05/09 - Hakodate Report
2014/05/08 - Matsumae Report
2014/05/01 - Hirosaki Report
2014/04/30 - Kakunodate Report
2014/04/24 - Kitakami Report
2014/04/23 - Mt. Fuji Report
2014/04/23 - Morioka Report
2014/04/22 - Aizu Report
2014/04/19 - Matsushima Report
2014/04/17 - Takato Report
2014/04/16 - Sendai Report
2014/04/16 - Matsumoto Report
2014/04/15 - Fukushima Report
2014/04/15 - Mount Fuji Report
2014/04/15 - Kyoto Report
2014/04/14 - Yoshino Report
2014/04/13 - Osaka Report
2014/04/12 - Kanazawa Report
2014/04/11 - Kyoto Report
2014/04/10 - Yoshino Report
2014/04/10 - Tokyo Report
2014/04/09 - Gunma Report
2014/04/09 - Hikone Report
2014/04/08 - Kyoto Report
2014/04/07 - Tokyo Report
2014/04/06 - Kyoto Report
2014/04/05 - Hiroshima Report
2014/04/05 - Matsuyama Report
2014/04/04 - Tokyo Report
2014/04/04 - Kamakura Report
2014/04/04 - Osaka Report
2014/04/03 - Kyoto Report
2014/04/03 - Fukuoka Report
2014/04/03 - Uji Report
2014/04/02 - Tokyo Report
2014/04/02 - Nagoya Report
2014/04/02 - Kumamoto Report
2014/04/01 - Kyoto Report
2014/03/31 - Tokyo Report
2014/03/29 - Kyoto Report
2014/03/28 - Kumamoto Report
2014/03/27 - Fukuoka Report
2014/03/26 - Tokyo Report
2014/03/25 - Kyoto Report