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Published: March 21st 2013
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Fuji from my apartment. We got word last week from several students that the cherry blossoms had opened early. Normally, "optimum" viewing time is the first week in April, generally April 1-10, but this year, the blossoms opened over a week ahead of schedule, which really threw off everybody's "hanami" parties. This also includes my days off, that I specifically took to be during sakura time, but haha, I suppose that's what I get for trying to plan anything around nature. Anyway, the blossoms are out, so today on my day off I headed out to see if I could hunt down some good shots.
It's a little early still - full-bloom is probably a week away, still, and the trees that are blooming now are generally no more than 50%!i(MISSING)n-bloom. But what an amazing view it is, even with that number! I was really looking forward to this time, and have asked several students for recommendations on where to go to see them at their peak, so I've had a list compiled for about a month of areas I wanted to hit. Today I decided to go and try two of them.
My first destination was Inokashira Park, on
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Takaido Station the western side of Tokyo. I had written down the trains I needed to take, but then realized I was on an express on the Keio line and that it was easier to get off at the Inokashira Koen Station, which was only a stop for the local trains. So, I hopped across the tracks at the "bypass" station on the line to get on the local, and I am really glad I did. As I was watching out the window, I noticed many beautiful sakura trees along the station tracks - so I made an impromptu stop at Takaido and went out to see. It ended up being this BEAUTIFUL walking path around a river, lined with cherry trees! Definitely worth the extra money to get on/off the train and see them.
After that, I made it to Inokashira Park, which was not in full-bloom but really pretty. If I hadn't been alone, I might have ridden in one of the boats they had, but just walking around the lake and taking pictures of the trees was really fun. A nice young Japanese man came up and talked to me for awhile, too; he started with Japanese, and
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Takaido Station then asked if he had startled me (in Japanese), and then switched over to English. Props to him for shakily getting through a 10-minute conversation in English with me! This is the first time I've ever had a Japanese guy approach me, so I was smiley for awhile afterwards - thanks for the self-esteem boost, dude!
I took the Chuo line back to Shinjuku, and then hopped on the Marunouchi Line to get to Shinjuku Gyoen, the national gardens there. This is an interesting spot for two reasons: 1) it cost 200 yen to get in, and 2) there's no alcohol allowed. Typical Japanese hanami parties involve a lot of alcohol, haha, so this is probably not a super popular or loud spot to have hanami. It was less in-bloom than the others, but still very pretty, and there were many people out to enjoy the beautiful day and the flowers. I joined the crowd on the grass and finished a book on my Kindle, and it was wonderful.
Hopefully next week is full-bloom time, and I can take my two days to do some more exploring. The street up near Beth's place here in town is lined
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Takaido Station with trees, too, and I caught them at night but haven't gone up to see them during the day yet. Almost any station you get off at is going to have some beautiful views, so I need to do some more exploring before the blossoms disappear! 😊
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Takahiro
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Amazing pictures
I always feel happy when foreigners compliment Japanese culture or life. Since I graduated from high school and moved to Tokyo, I often visit Inokashira park. It's my favorite place. Therefore I'm glad to hear that you satisfied with that amazing park. I hope you can see full blooms this weekend. Thank you for your brilliant pictures.