It's spring in Japan!

Almost everybody knows sakura (桜), in english: cherry blossoms, is famous in Japan that tourists from all over the world visit the country to witness this magnificent beauty.

But after a week or two, these flowers are gone. After blooming and showing the world its beauty, the petals constantly fall. Are cherry blossoms really the saddest flower?

I'm not a fan of crowded places but I love to see the cherry blossoms.

Cherry Blossoms = Crowd

This simple formula means that wherever there are cherry blossoms, there will always be a crowd.

So where does my journey begin?

The search for the cherry blossoms without a lot of people begins..

Meguro River

Even on a Wednesday night, there are so many people in Meguro Riverside eating and drinking. There are a lot of stalls along the river selling alcoholic drinks and different kinds of food. Who would have thought that Wednesday would be this festive?

But then again, these flowers are just so beautiful that you won't even mind the crowd. (Or maybe I do?)

Shinjuku Central Park

Maybe because it's COVID time, not a lot of people come to Shinjuku Chuo Park (in english: Shinjuku Central Park). I was expecting people doing hanami (花見 in english: flower viewing) - people laying down mats to have a picnic under the beautiful cherry blossoms tree - but only a few did.

Then I realized, maybe this place is not so famous in Tokyo for cherry blossoms.

The photo below is my favorite. I even set this as my phone's wallpaper.

Shinjuku Central Park is surrounded by buildings including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. I guess salarymen (people call them salaryman because they are the working class of the society, usually wearing suits at work - you can read more about it in this article in Wikipedia) come here for a quick walk during lunch time.

Nishi Kasai

Luckily I found a place where not a lot of people go to. The park is so spacious. There are benches everywhere and many people are here to jog. On the not so far end, people can even do fishing!

Others

Few more strolls and found gems too!

Even Shibuya has few cherry blossoms!

Outro

I think sakura is not the saddest flower because it gives joy to the people around. It may not bloom for a long time but because of the constantly falling petals, the ground seems like it is carpeted in pink. Its beauty is celebrated all over Japan, not just as a flower in a tree but even in food, drinks, scents and many more (I'll blog about it next time!). So even when sakura only shows up in a short while during spring, it lasts for a long time.

If you're in Japan, where do you usually go for cherry blossoms?

If you're not in Japan, come visit! The cherry blossoms await you next spring.

Til next time!

All photos in this post are taken using my phone and edited by me.