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 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