cherry blossom trip to japan

hello everyone, hope you can help me and my friends regarding our concerns on our scheduled trip to Japan...me and my friends are planning to take a week long vacation in japan early 2009...hopefully in time for the cherry blossom season...just want to ask a couple of questiions though:
1. Are there still traces of snow during cherry blossom season?
2. What's the most practical and cheapest way to go to japan if coming from Korea? Is it via ferry from busan to fukuoka or direct flight from seoul to tokyo...we don't want to waste so much time in travelling since we will just be doing this for one week.
3. I believe the mode of transfer in japan is through train, can you give us info on how can we get in touch with the railway admin office for reservations?

tenx very much for any help...

1. Are there still traces of snow during cherry blossom season?

It is very rare for snow to fall during the cherry blossom season, but it can happen sometimes. A few years ago, I hear that the cherry blossoms, snow fall and the spring festival co-occured in Takayama.

Of course, doe to its geographical north-south extension, you can see the blossoms in southern Japan and still go skiing in the mountains and in northern Japan.