Hiroshima: Full Bloom

Hot on the heels of our two reports yesterday from Tokyo and Osaka, today I was in Hiroshima - an attractive, compact city in the west of Japan known for its many sightseeing spots, laid-back atmosphere and, of course, its tragic war history.

Here, I stopped by two of the best-loved blossom-viewing spots and found both in their best viewing period, despite some petals already having fallen in intermitted rainfall over the last few days.

My first stop was at the Peace Memorial Park - one of the city's most prominent areas and certainly its best-known, with a series of wide avenues, monuments and museums spread across quite a bit of the central downtown area. Dotted throughout are around 300 cherry blossom trees, all currently well into their best viewing period.

While I did notice a few petals on the ground here and there, overall the blossoms have stood up well to the rains and should make for attractive viewing until Saturday, when heavier rain will likely bring the best viewing period to an end.

My second stop of the day was at Shukkeien, a beautiful landscape garden located alongside the Kyobashi River, about 15 minutes walk east of Hiroshima Station. Here, visitors can find about 200 cherry blossom trees, both around the central pond and in two larger clusters.

While also still very attractive, overall the blossoms seemed a few days ahead of those at the Peace Park and had suffered a bit more in the rain, leaving scatterings of petals here and there, and I would expect the period of best viewing to accordingly close a little earlier.