2016 Cherry Blossoms

This year I didn't feel nearly as stressed out to get to every single sakura spot before the cherry blossoms disappeared like I did last year.  Instead, we picked a few places we really wanted to visit and then just enjoyed the season!  I loved going all over the place last year, but it was so much more enjoyable this year because it didn't feel like such a task!  

Clara, Bennett, and I started out the season by going on a bike ride with our friends, Leanna VanDusen and Natalie Trowbridge and their little ones.  We rode our mamacharis down the path out the east gate over to Show Park and back.  These were actually some of the best blossoms I've seen!  Almost the entire path (about 3 miles) was covered in blossoms making it feel so magical.  We had a really fun day riding along with friends and enjoying the beautiful sakura!

We also went to the Hamura Sakura Festival this year, after having missed it last year.  And it was wonderful!  The path along the river is lined with sakura trees and they hang charming red lanterns from the trees during the sakura season.  We walked along the path enjoying delicious festival food, playing little festival games, and Peter and I tried out the super hot foot onsen!  It was a really fun day.

Some of the very best cherry blossoms every year are the ones here on base!  We have several sakura lined streets, and so one day on our walk to church, we stopped and took some family photos with the blossoms.

And I can't forget to include shots from Peter's bike rides!  Here are a couple of shots from the pagoda close by Tama Lake, just about 10 minutes from the base.

And, our last hanami spot this year was a repeat from last year, but we couldn't miss it because it's our favorite spot!  We went back to Inokashira Park in Kichijoji to ride the swan boats and enjoy the sakura with hundreds of other people!  

Cherry Blossoms Part 3

Of all the sakura spots we've visited this season, my favorite has been to Inokashira Park in Kichijoji. Even the walk down to the park is super fun and full of cute little shops and restaurants.  The park itself has a bunch of open space for picnics with many large sakura trees.  The star of the park, though, is a large lake where you can rent canoes, regular paddle boats, or swan boats!  Going out on the lake is the perfect way to view the sakura, as the branches hang beautifully over the shores.  

We rented a couple of swan boats and paddled our way around the lake.  It was super crowded, so we had a few laughs as we'd bump into other boats, and the kids had fun steering us around.  I loved being with all of the locals (most of whom looked to be college-aged and were there having picnics with friends), especially the darling old couple in the photo at the top of the page!

After Peter and I got a decent quad workout from paddling around the lake, we got out and walked around, being sure to stop and get some ice cream cones, onigiris, karage, and other little Japanese snacks.  It was such a fun day, and this park will definitely become a tradition for us to visit each year that we're here!

GPS Coordinates for Inokashira Park: 

35.699805, 139.576975

The easiest way to get to this park is to take the Chuo Line JR train to Kichijoji Station and just walk a few blocks down to the park.

Cherry Blossoms Part 2

Since Ueno Park is the mecca for hanami, or sakura viewing, it was number one on my list of places to visit.  So, last week we headed into Tokyo to experience Ueno Park and all of its crowds and cherry blossom glory.  And it did not disappoint!  We ate snacks and wandered around under the main sakura tree-lined path of the park, enjoyed being surrounded by people doing the same, and took lots and lots of pictures . . . 

After walking through the main part of the park, we went down to the lake where all of the festival food vendors were set up and we bought lots of yummy food like cotton candy, pancakes shaped like Doraemon and Hello Kitty, yakitori, yakisoba, and some more chocolate-dipped pancakes on a stick.  We ate them as we looked over the lake with the cherry blossoms picturesquely hanging over the edges.

And then, right as we were leaving, all of the lanterns were turned on amidst the sakura, making it the perfect ending to our visit to Ueno Park!

Cherry Blossoms Part 1

Cherry blossom, or sakura, season is in full bloom here in Japan and we have done our very best to see as many as we possibly could!  I had always heard about the cherry blossoms here, but experiencing them has completely exceeded my expectations!  They're so beautiful, and they are only around for a short while--just a couple of weeks--that it's almost stressful!  I've had my fair share of anxiety trying to coordinate and schedule which places we needed to visit and when :)  I just didn't want to miss any!  But, luckily, we were able to get my top 3 parks in:  Shinjuku Gyoen, Ueno Park, and Inokashira Park.  And, we were even able to visit a few more spots as well.

Surprisingly, our base has some of the most beautiful sakura trees around!  They are huge, mature trees that line a few of the main roads here on base, making it as if you're driving through a tunnel of cherry blossoms.  The kids and I have had fun riding our bikes under the trees and every day you're sure to see any number of people outside taking pictures by them!

Our first big hanami outing (which means viewing of cherry blossoms) was to Shinjuku Gyoen, a large park in the middle of Shinjuku.  It was lightly raining and the kids were freezing, but the trees were absolutely beautiful!  So it was worth it!  Or at least that's what we kept telling them :)

Since I have far too many sakura pictures, I've decided to do a few posts, so . . . this is out of order, but the next few pictures are of the last place we visited!  The Tamagawa trail, which is just down the road in our neighborhood of Fussa.  It was especially pretty in the evening with the lanterns lit.

Stay tuned for more pictures from Ueno Park and Inokashira Park!

GPS Coordinates for Shinjuku Gyoen: 

35.685416, 139.710041