Tokyo Cherry Blossoms 2015: 東京と桜とあたし

Persephone arrived from the underworld and briefly painted Tokyo pale pink, magenta and white to celebrate the end of winter.

From hanami with friends at Yoyogi Park to solo bento lunches under the blossoms at a cute little park near work, I took every possible moment to enjoy the cherry blossom season.

And a special tip for sakura lovers: the cherry blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen tend to bloom a bit later than others around the city, allowing you to extend your hanami-ing for an extra weekend!

Sakura Saturday in Shakujikoen

Yoyogi, Ueno and Nakameguro's sakura may be beautiful, but the crowds that come with them are not. Sitting on a tiny, crowded bit of plastic sheet, getting bumped into by drunken students and eating karage is not really my style.

So, as has now become tradition, I go in search of parks a bit out of the way, to enjoy the pink blossoms in peace.

This year's destination was Shakujikoen, all the way out in Nerima. The area around the station was already charming, with lots of little stores providing handmade genmai onigiri and other tasty things.

Although not all the sakura were out in force yet (as being away from the center of Tokyo means that it is a bit chillier), it was an excellent choice. Near the park there are a series of yashiki (fancy smancy homes), made even more beautiful by the flowers blooming around them.

Shakujikoen includes some protected marsh area, and several small shrines. While it was obviously not empty, there was no lack of seating. Matcha-kun and I found a lovely tree near the lake, and listened to a decent amateur violinist play Ghibli songs.

I hope you got a chance to enjoy the sakura before the rain! Next up will be ajisai time!

Sakura Days: Mitsuike Koen and Kishine Koen

With all weather forecasts showing that it would rain over the weekend, I had resigned myself to only getting to see the (admittedly pretty) sakura on my walk to work.

 However the weather gods decided to show their favor, and we managed to have two dry, if chilly, days to enjoy the fluffiness to the max.

On Saturday a couple sharemates and I headed over to Kishine Koen for an evening hanami session. I have been trying to seek more local sights, instead of always running off to Tokyo, and this park is a great find. While there are not as many sakura as in other places, the trees they have are huge! Being rather minor, it was not crowded at all, and we got a nice bit of the wooden deck near the stream to ourselves. There is also an awesome slide, that we spent a good 15 minutes sliding down.

The following day was Mitsuike Koen's turn, a really large park with three small lakes and tons of trees. It is a bit troublesome to get to, as you have to catch the 104 bus from ShinYokohama station, but I think it was worth the trek.

 While there were lots of visitors, the sheer size of the park allows it to not feel crowded. There are plenty of places to lay out your blankets, without having to overhear the conversations of nearby groups.

 The afternoon slowly got colder, and poor Matcha-kun had shown up in a t-shirt. Fortunately I was wearing lots of layers, so lent him my oversized sweater and scarf... just to find that he looks better in it than I do! Very unfair ;p