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Sakura

Enreina

• 3 min read

What’s your reason for coming to japan?

I want to see the cherry blossom blooms in Japan with my own eyes.

And yes the dream was worth a wait. I don’t know since when I had this dream to see the cherry blossom blooms in Japan, but maybe because of watching many beautifully drawn anime with cherry blossom in it (e.g. 5 centimeters per second), the idea of seeing it with my own eyes has been in my mind for a long time.

A vector image of cherry blossom that I made with Inkscape long ago.
A vector image of cherry blossom that I made with Inkscape long ago.

It was a matter of time that I got to fulfill this one dream (or bucket list, if I may say it) of many others.  I was really excited (and nervous) when April was coming because the sakura were going to bloom around end of March until beginning of April. Seeing sakura for me is like seeing lanterns for Rapunzel (yes I am referring to Disney’s movie, Tangled).

Rapunzel: I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?

Flynn Rider: It will be.

Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?

Flynn Rider: Well,that’s the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.

Haha! Enough of my cheesy writing! Let’s get on to some photos! My favorite photos were taken along Kanda River (神田川) from Takaido Station to Meidaimae Station. It was around 4.5 km (one and a half hour walking if you often stop and take some photos) between those stations and it was an amazing morning walk to see and experience showers of sakura petals.

Sakura along the Kanda River.
Sakura along the Kanda River.
It’s like a scene out of an anime.
Close up version of pale pink version of sakura
Close up version of pale pink version of sakura
Sakura petals shower make the road look like it's covered with pink carpet.
Sakura petals shower make the road look like it’s covered with pink carpet.
'Weeping' sakura
‘Weeping’ sakura
A pinker version
A pinker version

Other than Kanda River, I also went to Ueno Park (just strolling along the park, because it was too crowded to sit down), Asukayama Park (hanami with several YSEP students), and also just today I went to Yoyogi Park (hanami with other several YSEP students). Oh there are actually also some cherry blossom in Tokodai (Ookayama campus). I didn’t take many photos at those places and were just enjoying the blissful moment. Cherry blossoms are so much more nicer to see with your own eyes anyway than through some photos (or I am no good of taking photos).

There are still ton of places in my list that I want to go to see for ‘hanami’ (literally means flower seeing) like Shinjuku Gyoen, Chidorigafuchi, etc. I don’t know if I can visit all of them before their season is over.

桜が大好きです！

Would be nice if I can see them again next year (or every year) 😀