Sakura 桜 (Cherry Blossom) are beautiful no matter what time of day you view them, but there are a number of places in and around Tokyo that also have night ‘Illuminations’ of the blossoms.
There is even a special word for cherry blossoms in the evening – Yozakura 夜桜 (literally ‘night cherry blossoms’). The illuminations range from the whole trees being spotlighted, to the more traditional, with lanterns hanging amongst the branches.
Toshimaen, Tokyo
Toshimaen Sakura Illumination
Toshimaen is an ‘old school’ amusement park in Nerima with whole tree spotlights. Normally there is an entrance fee to the park, but during the Sakura season, entrance from about 4pm becomes free for the night-time illumination. In fact, inside and out of the park are a lot of Sakura trees, and the area is quite beautiful in spring (but then, I might be bias, I used to live there).
Kita Koshigaya
Lanterns and path
Sakura at Dusk
These photos are taken at Kita Koshigaya, a place I mentioned in my last Sakura post, from dusk to darkness. Kita Koshigaya’s Illumination is more of the traditional kind, with paper lanterns. You might notice on each lantern something different is written, these are the names of the people or the company that ‘sponsors’ the lantern. It’s quite pretty, but also very hard to photo (especially on a windy evening)!
Blossoms in the dark
To see these photos in full, or see a few more not shown here, please check out my flickr set! Enjoy the flowers!
Sakura 桜 (Cherry Blossom) are the iconic Japanese flower. They bloom for a short period (about a week) around the last week of April and first week of May in Tokyo. Although short-lived, they are prolific, and trees seem to be covered in masses of blooms which makes me think of pink snow.
No matter where you are in Japan, if you are here in Sakura season, a well-known and beautiful place to view the blossoms won’t be far away. Although this is only a short list, these places are my pick for Sakura in Tokyo and Saitama.
Ueno Park, Tokyo
Ueno Park in bloom
One of the most famous places in Tokyo for Hanami (literally flower viewing) parties. Always busy during Sakura season, but with good reason! More than 1000 Sakura trees line the pathways through the park, and many groups reserve their spots under the trees from early in the day. Although I have never attended a Hanami party here, almost every season I go for a walk mid afternoon just to soak up the atmosphere. Not a place for quite contemplation of the blossoms, but perfect if you want to get a feel for the party side of the season.
From the JR Ueno Station, take the Park exit and walk straight ahead over the road into the park. Most of the blossoms are on the paths to the left, but all of Ueno Park is quite interesting, with shrines and museums, if you want to wander around (and don’t mind the crowds).
Chidorigafuchi, Tokyo
Chidorigafuchi Boat Pier
Chidorigafuchi is right in the middle of Tokyo with the Imperial Palace. In fact, part of this walk is through the Kitanomaru park, and other parts use the moat and other structures of the Imperial Palace as back drops, so it’s quite scenic. You can even hire a rowboat for 30 minutes and have a paddle in the moat under the blooming trees. From here it’s also just a short walk to Yasakuni Shrine, where the tree used to announce the official Sakura season start in Tokyo resides. Not really a place to go for Hanami parties, but a very nice afternoon stroll, even in other seasons, with a few places to stop, sit and admire the blossoms. A Sakura Festival and evening illumination is also held every year, see this page (in Japanese) for details.
From Kudanshita, on the Hanzomon, Shinjuku, and Mita Metro lines, take exit 1, and head towards Yasukuni Shrine. You can either turn left into the Kitanomaru park, or continue on to Yasukuni Shrine before doubling back to turn down Chidorigafuchi alongside the moat.
Kita Koshigaya, Saitama
Kita Koshigaya river and sakura
And lastly, my favourite Sakura viewing place – Kita Koshigaya. There are a few reasons why this is my top pick. It’s really close to where I live (only a few stations), it isn’t nearly as crowded as anywhere in Tokyo even in its peak, you can easily find a spot to have a picnic on the grass, and the contrast with the green grass, blue river and pink blossoms is beautiful! The Sakura trees line the river for about 2km, and there are well over 300 trees. During the season there is also a festival on one of the weekends, and there are a few stalls set up selling food and drinks.
To get there, take the Tobu Isesaki Line to Kita Koshigaya, and head out the west exit. You can either turn right or left, and just follow the road next to the railway until you reach the river. From there just follow the path alongside the river under the trees.
Finally I’m almost finished blogging about Lauren’s visit. We really did fit a lot into 2 weeks! So this post is devoted to miscellaneous things.
The first weekend that Lauren was here was all shopping. I’m pretty lucky that I have the largest shopping center in Japan only 30 minutes from my house, so after meeting Lauren at the airport and forwarding her bag to my house, we went there. We walked around for a few hours before deciding to head home and crash on the couch for the evening. Wayne’s World 1 was watched, and then quoted numerous times over the next 2 weeks.
The next day was spent in Akihabara, and Lauren managed to get the majority of her souvenir shopping done. She also bought a new video camera, and I bought a new compact digital camera. My new camera, a Nikon Coolpix S570, isn’t the latest model, but I’m really happy with it. It takes really great portraits, I think the automatic face detection software softens the face (always a plus).
Next was our trip to Hakone, followed by the Cat Cafe and Yokohama. On the 27th of March, we actually attended the YouTube Hanami party in Yoyogi park, which accounted for our slight hangovers on our trip to the snow. The Hanami party was lots of fun, but I got far too friendly, and the lines for the toilets were really really long. In the evening the party moved from the park to the Hub in Shibuya, but we were only able to stay for a few hours since we had to be up early to catch the train the following day.
After we arrived back from the snow, we needed a bit of a sleep in and easy day, so we went to the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku for high tea. The Park Hyatt has the hotel bar that is featured in Lost in Translation, but personally I went for the food (big surprise there…). I’ll be doing a blog about that next (^-^)v
A full day at Dinsneyland was next on the agenda. We spent 14 hours there that day, and it was lots of fun. Of course being the school holiday it was really busy, but we got to ride most of the ‘big’ rides, and a few of the classics. It was also interesting as, for the first time, they were holding Easter celebrations. So the decorations were really nice.
Disney's Easter Wonderland
By this time, the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom, so we went to Ueno to see the flowers (and the crowds!). Ueno is one of the most popular places to have hanami, and it’s super crowded all the time. However, you can understand why, as it’s very pretty.
Ueno park in bloom
Ueno park was actually just a stop on our way to Alkatraz ER in Shibuya, a medical dungeon themed Japanese bar. I do love going to themed bars in Tokyo, but this place was a bit of a let down. There were some cool and weird things, like drinks served out of severed heads, drinks with banana’s that looked like… well… and then there was the vibrator drink… Where the waitress (in short nurses uniform complete with g-string) mixed the drink with a vibrator while moaning (0_o)…. But overall it was over priced, as we had to order the all you can eat and drink menu, and they neglected to inform us that drinks from the special drink menu weren’t included in that deal. Next time I would prefer to go to the Lockup.
Our last couple of days were spent wandering around Costco (Japan is all about shopping at American stores…), singing karaoke, and looking at the local cherry blossoms.
Well, the first week back at school has passed without too much fuss.The excitement of the week being flashed by one of the 2nd grade boys – once accidently, the second time on purpose.My new schedule is working out well, and the extra hour is just enough to keep me busy.But to be honest, I have no idea how my coworkers teach in the evenings.By home time I am exhausted, and then I have to cook dinner, clean the house, study, chat to mum…I’ve decided I need a wife.Do they do same sex marriages in Japan?
The cherry blossoms are well and truly gone.It was only two weeks ago that they were in full bloom, and by Easter Sunday all the blooms had fallen from the trees.The analogy of a warrior’s life being “a precious and fleeting gift” like the Sakura is certainly apt.Full bloom lasts for less than a week, and within days the blossoms cover the ground like pink tinged snow.So beautiful, I’m sad its over for this year.
Now its time for Azaleas to start blooming.They are another favourite of mine.In Japan they have a miniature variety which is quite cute, and all the bushes seem to have fuller flower coverage than what they do in Australia.This year I will go to Kyu-Furukawa Teien garden in Tokyo, Tatebayashi (http://www.utyututuji.jp/topic_tsutsuji/topic_tsutsuji.html) and another place whose name escapes me at the moment.
On a final note, my pet fish continues to live, but I think it’s got fungus, because its lips are blackened.Hopefully I can get him medicated up and healthy.Still deciding whether he should be called ‘Fish’ ‘Mullet’ or ‘Dinner’, although I’m leaning strongly towards the later.
Well, God does provide! I’ve been craving an easy relaxing weekend for a while now, and finally its happening. Unfortunately its due to Peter and his bro and cuz getting colds, which really is quite unfortunate. However, we are rescheduling Disney for next weekend. So now I have nothing to do tomorrow. Might call Xina I think.
At work we have some pretty big changes coming up. 4 of the teachers are leaving our school, either transferring or leaving the company totally. And maybe another 1 (but Im really hoping that Kuniko isn’t going to be transferred!). So we had their going away party last night. It was *huge*! 70 people in total. To tell the truth I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but in the end I had a pretty good time. It helps that Sanae (our current head teacher) chose a pretty great table for me to sit at!
Unfortunately I totally forgot my camera. grrrr. ah well.
Looking forward to – Sakura blooming in the next few weeks
te. However, we are rescheduling Disney for next weekend. So now I have nothing to do tomorrow. Might call Xina I think.
the story of an Aussie girl living in Japan, who loves travel, hiking, walking, flowers and food.
yamaonna 
