Meijo Park, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Since the weather was so nice last weekend, I decided to go for a walk around Meijo Park. I went expecting to see more cherry blossoms, as according to the forecast — and yes, it’s a thing — they were supposed to be in bloom.
Due to Coronavirus, many public events are on indefinite hiatus, including hanami. Hanami is a spring tradition of eating, drinking, and socializing under the cherry trees. It usually involves being packed into confined spaces with strangers and friends alike, so it’s a total no go these days.
That said, my local supermarket came up with a solution in the form of selling cherry blossom branches for ¥300 a pop. The idea is that you can view the blossom inside your own home with your family. Since it wasn’t so expensive and figuring why the hell not, I bought one– much to the confusion of many of the other shoppers.
However it seems that I missed the peak bloom for this particular branch as the few blossoms fell off rather quickly. But I’m not too upset as it’s still a nice pop of colour in my apartment. Plus it smells nice. ¥300 well spent.
A few weekends ago, I went to a festival in Inuyama with some friends from work.
During that time, we also visited Inuyama’s famous castle.
The castle features a balcony at its top, from which you can enjoy an amazing view of the city below.
It seemed like this year’s cherry blossom season was especially short. The delicate white and pink petals have already been mostly replaced by green leaves in many places.
It’s been surprisingly chilly out recently. The wind has also been rather blustery, adding to the chill. Because of this, this year’s blossoms are a bit late.
Tokyo and other cities have reported that their trees started blossoming at the end of March. I hope ours do so soon.
A student recommended that I visit Tsurumai Park last weekend to see the cherry trees.
Tsurumai Park is a popular place to go flower viewing, so it can get pretty crowded. Since my days off are usually Sunday and Monday, I thought it migh be better to go on a weekday.
It was still very crowded.
Most of the spaces under the cherry trees were already taken by the time I got there, so I walked around the park. I enjoyed a bottle of ramune soda and had a look at the stalls, but they didn’t really have anything I wanted. After about thirty minutes, I jumped back on the train to Nagoya.
I expect the trees to be flowering for another week or so, so now’s your chance for flower viewing if you’re chubu.
The Okazaki Cherry Blossom Festival started a few days ago. People from all atound Aichi (and further, I’d bet) came to oogle the somewhat famous cherry trees. Now that the weather’s finally consistently warm, the trees are blooming up a storm.
After work, I met up with a friend to try and enjoy a little bit of the festival before they closed at 10. We quickly made our way to the venue, grabbed some snacks if grilled meats and sweets, and found a place to take a few pictures.
Most of the trees were illuminated with lanterns of naked bulbs. There were also tons of booths and stalls selling snacks or swag for over inflated prices.
My friend and I ended up sharing a ¥500 bag of cotton candy, while we walked about, and joked about how our phones captured better pictures than our cameras.
All in all it was okay, though we have both seen better. It’s scheduled to continue until mid-April, though it’s sure to be crowded.
From Higashi Okazaki station, it’s about a ten minute walk. Just head towards Okazaki Castle and you can’t miss it.
Photos I’ve been meaning to upload for a long time now from a trip to Kyoto in early April. These shots do not do the city justice at all. These were both taken at Kiyomizu Temple. It was a wonderful time.
The weather has been pretty great recently. With the exception of a bit of rain, the days have been rather warm. Many Japanese people are super proud of their distinct four seasons, and it seems for good reason.
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