Cherry blossom time 2008

Hi,
I love this forum!
I am again travelling to Japan in March/April 2008 & wanted to know when cherry blossom season is likely to be in Tokyo, Osaka areas?

I will have a JR pass and can travel to catch the bloom. But I only have about 2 weeks so want to time it as close as possible. We will spend most of our time around Tokyo.
Thanks!

Congratulations! You are the first one to ask this question for next spring's cherry blossom season this year.

Unfortunately, it is way too early to make any predictions yet. It is not until early March that there will be any somewhat accurate forecasts.

Here is some information about average dates:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_when.html

Super fast answer as always!

I only know some Japanese residents say the season is becoming "earlier and earlier".

Whenever I go to China or Korea for business trip in the spring, I try to go to Japan also. It's too early to know, but generally speaking end of March, beginning April for Osaka and Tokyo, give or take 7-10 days/ You'll know around late Feb or early March

That's according to this article -

http://www.japantravelinfo.com/features/features_item.php?fe...

In 2007 it bloomed on March 21st?

Last year the blossoms were supposed to be out on the 21st but I was at a park 2 days later and there were perhaps 3 flowers on each tree! It was quite cold in the week after the 21st so even though the trees had started blooming, they weren't full in bloom until the 1st week of April which is more usual.

Generally you are almost guaranteed to see at least half of each tree in bloom sometime in the first week of April in Tokyo.

Even if they are saying the 24th now, it could easily be 2 weeks later- it's very hard to predict.

Will there be any chance of seeing blossoms around the Tokyo area in late April?

not in Tokyo. You would have to go up into much cooler mountainous areas like Nagano, or up to Tohoku. It may still be possible to see them in the higher areas of Nikko but I'm just guessing there.

You would need to travel at least an hour out of Tokyo by bullet train (2 hours by express train and bus for Oku-Nikko) to see them though.

I was in Ueno park yesterday and there were a couple of branches out in bloom already. People were taking lots of photos and pointing 'sakura' so I assumed they weren't plum blossoms.

Will there be any chance of seeing blossoms around the Tokyo area in late April?

Maybe some special late blooming varieties. But the "mainstream" blossoms will all have fallen:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_species.html

I was in Ueno park yesterday and there were a couple of branches out in bloom already.

These are some early blooming varieties. Small in number. The "mainstream" blossoms are expected to open in late March and be best for viewing in the first half of April.

I will go Osaka next week. Can I see Cherry blossom? I only stay 4 days! Where can I see?

Thanks

I suspect you'll be out of luck! Somebody might know where the early blooming varieties are, but you really want to be there at the very end of March/beginning of April.

Anybody know about sakura dates in Yamagata (Tsuruoka), Akita (Kakunodate) or Iwate (Morioka)? This year, I mean.

I see on the website that cherry blossoms have just opened in Tokyo i.e. 22nd March. Can someone please confirm if this is just a few trees or is the bloom widespread? Thanks.

It's just a few trees from what i've seen, the season is coming early though.

am planning to visit tokyo/nagoya end April/early May. according to the calendar, most of the trees would have blossomed. my question is, what happens after that? will the flowers stay on the tree or will all dropped off by the time i reach there?

just came back from tokyo yesterday, trees are just budding, might take another 10 days to fully bloom.

I was in a park in Tokyo today, and there were a very few flowers open on just a few of the trees. By next weekend they will most likely be in full bloom. By the middle of April, most of the flowers will have fallen. By the end of April in both Nagoya and Tokyo there will be leaves on the trees but no flowers, they look like ordinary trees.

Hi I started this thread, happy it's useful!
I will be in Nagoya & Tokyo 29 APril-4 May. if anyone would like to go blossom viewing with me, that might be a nice thing especially if you're also travelling alone. Let me know and we can see if we can exchange details.

Anybody in Nagoya who can tell me whether I'll be lucky? I'm in NGO 27th and 28th of March. What's the current blooming status?