Hanami Time!

Cherry blossom viewing is known as Hanami, and it is on! People typically have picnics to go see the cherry blossoms along the rivers here. If I hadn't twisted my ankle a couple of weeks ago, we'd have gone with some friends, but missed out on that one. We did, however, go to see the cherry blossoms at Kenroku-en, the famous garden downtown.


Cherry blossoms are a really big thing here. For one week, the garden is lit up and open for free at night so everyone can come see the blossoms. We went Wednesday, because we were busy for most of the rest of the week, and dead tired when we were home. You can't imagine how many cherry trees there were, and how huge some of them were. It's simply amazing how many trees there are; they're everywhere! The trees are so beautiful, and the scents? Oh how I wish you could put scents through the internet. Walking amongst the trees, the scents of the cherry blossoms, mimosa trees, and this one bush that doesn't have visible flowers but smells simply amazing are heavenly. If you're thinking of visiting Japan, definitely find out when the cherry blossoms will be blooming wherever you're going. Unimaginable!


As it was dusk, we weren't able to get many good pictures. I took about 50, and only got 12 good ones, and a couple of them really aren't that great. They should give you some idea of what it's like. As always, head over to Flickr for more, they're the last 12 in the Kenroku-en set, the ones that are all pink.