Japan’s Cherry Blossom Travel Guide

[tsubaki nakajima]

For those who are planning to go to Japan this Spring 2017,here's the current forecast and possible places for you to stay for Sakura Matsuri:

Sakura or Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the events most travelers are looking forward to, in Japan this usually happens around Late March to Early May having April as it's peak season.

For Tokyo:

Meguro River Early April (Recommended: Night Illumination until around 9pm, Nakameguro Sakura Festival)
Shinjuku Gyoen Early April 1-10 (a little bit crowded but it has a thousand cherry blossom trees inside the public park)
Ueno Park Early April (has parties inside and has good ambiance)

For Osaka:

Osaka Mint Bureau Mid April (Wait for the "Cherry Blossom in Osaka Viewing" Event
Osaka Castle Park End Mar-Early Apr (Even outside Castle, it has a lot of Cherry Blossom
Kema Sakuranomiya Early April (Riverside, Less Crowded)


For Kyoto:

Maruyama Park Early April (Recommended: For food stalls and nigh illumination until 1am)
Heian Shrine Mid April (Opens from 8:30am to 5:30pm)
Philosophers Path Beginning of April (Enjoy nice stroll in yukata, maybe even bump into some gieshas)

For Fukushima:

Hanamiyama Park Mid-Late April (Recommended: For being Best Sakura viewing spot)


For Nara:

Mount Yoshino Mid April (Recommended: For Panoramic View)

Saving tips: Book as soon as possible since price (both airfare and accommodation) increases as it gets closer to April.

[Sakurahime]

I agree: the most popular places get booked up really fast. There's also a really famous, really beautiful spot for cherry blossom viewing in Hirosaki (in northern Japan), around where the castle is (or used to be? I know they're doing some kind of restoration work on it at the moment). I've never been, but I've seen pictures of the park and it looks amazing. Sadly, as a famous spot, there are huge crowds of people who go every year, and I think my friend told me that you need to book accommodation basically a year in advance. So, either you go on a day trip, or you could try next year? (I realise this isn't the best advice, sorry...)
If you're anywhere near Sendai, which is also in the north, in Miyagi prefecture, there's Tsutsujigaoka Park which is quite popular. It's not as grand as some other places, but it does have quite a wide variety of different types of sakura trees. Nishi Koen is another good spot, and quite large, but very crowded, so you have to get there early if you want a spot for a hanami (flower viewing) picnic.
In Yamagata City, to the west of Sendai, Kajou Koen seems to be the place to go. There's quite a lot of space there, so you can probably find a good spot for a hanami picnic. It's near to the train station and I was told that it gets less crowded.
As all of these spots are higher up on the map than Tokyo, the sakura will bloom later there, probably mid- to late April.

[tsubaki nakajima]

Sakurahime Unfortunately, my flight was booked around early April so I don't think I would be able to see much there. But I still need to take note about these places since, it's Japan, and you simply just don't go there once. I think the only double edge sword about hanami is that it gets really too crowded (but hey, that could be fun too) and if you really want to have a proper photo with the cherry blossoms, it would be hard to take one without anyone photo-bombing your pictures. But I guess, that's also part or the experience.

[Sakurahime]

I agree: you can't just go to Japan once! It's a shame that you can't go further north this time around, but that just means something to look forward to next time!
It can get rather crowded, which is why people go quite early - that would probably be the best time for you to take photos (and I don't know much about photography but I think morning light is good for that?) I've never been anywhere that's ridiculously crowded, so I can't really help you there, but having a good amount of people is rather fun - one time my group ended up playing frisbee with some children, and then some (drunk!) adults. Drinking a bit of alcohol is a hanami tradition, and you can join in as long as you're sensible!