Tourist Mistakes with Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Sakura! They’re here but tourists visiting make some mistakes. I get the same questions every year, yes — tourists don’t know much about the sakura cherry blossom season and they shouldn’t unless researched so here’s a break down.

[TensaiDragon]

Interestingly, I saw the weekend clip on Sunday, and was walking home on Monday afternoon and the sakuras that are planted on my street were starting to bloom(23rd)! Oh.. and the interesting part? I'm in London UK! 🌸😆 A few years ago(or more) they replaced some street trees(birch, oak) with sakura ones... Lovely splash of colour to our neighbourhood.😊

[JillFitzgerald-eg]

Thanks John! We just spent 3 weeks in Tokyo. We left to go back to the US on Friday. No cherry blossoms. Just one tree in Tokyo Disneyland!! To our surprise we have a cherry blossom tree in our backyard. Lived in our home for 4 years and never saw it before! We were always traveling at this time. It is beautiful!

[ericifune]

Not just different varieties, but different microclimates as well. A tree in the shade most of the time, will be later than one in full sunlight all the time.

[jantravis]

All the blooming trees are all beautiful and awesome. Here in Oklahoma ours redbuds and Bradford's are blooming some of them late last month.

[thelonelyamazonian]

Here in London🇬🇧, there are so many varieties of Cherry Blossom trees. Most of the Somei Yoshino (Prunus Yedoensis) have already fully blossomed, whilst others and their varieties still haven’t yet.

😉

[athirashashikumar]

We are coming soon to Tokyo for cherry blossom and was seeing statuses where trees are in full bloom and rain is going to hit soon as per weather forecast.. feeling way relieved after watching your video .. this was very helpful 😊

[nicoleh]

We are in Kyoto today, and there are very few Sakura in bloom.
I hope we can find a few more.

[KevinVonClose]

I just returned from my first trip to Japan (March 13th - March 23rd) and it was crazy how you could find one Sakura Tree bloomed in the middle of a park and the rest just had buds. Some obviously were different verities such of trees for plumb blossom and such but still to find maybe a couple trees in Shinjuku, Ueno and then randomly scattered through out Tokyo. But as you mention in the video, the ones that were blooming were in more of an open sunlight spot, higher on hill etc.

I was worried of not finding one tree before my trip ended and we found many scattered across Tokyo on the first day and we got to some early enough that nearly no one was taking photos but later in the day the crowds of people taking their selfies..

Then we went to Ishinomaki and clearly wasn't going to find any in bloom there yet.

Side note: I witnessed people, mainly females holding the branches to bring them into their photo / selfie and I would say just loud enough to my friend from Ishinomaki that "You're not supposed to touch the trees and flowers right?" just to see if that if the person would understand and release the branch.

[Gazumi-inOZ]

Best Sakura experience from Tokyo, Kominato and Isumi Railways thru Chiba, yellow Rape-seed flowering contrasting 🌼 with pink Sakura 🌸 incredible. Research it 👍

[dwalker]

Thank you for sharing the information❤

[Romeolmoore]

Just arrived today in Tokyo! May the Sakura hunting begin

[DDB]

It costs to get into to Shinjuku Gyoen (about 500Y ?), but it's surprisingly not as busy as I thought it would be. It's worth it.

Just realized that there are lots of sakura I saw White Sakura variety in Osaka Station in my first Japan trip (2018) and in 2019, tourist touching and shaking the Sakura tree in Asakusa.

[nateshf]

My wife and I travel with a flexible itinerary, adapting our plans based on peak bloom locations and weather if possible.

[johnlopez]

It was nice too see the cherry blossom trees it was nice John also it was interesting too see one off the tree that haven’t blossomed yet hope you have a wonderful day

[Garo.]

I was there last year and I thought the trees in Yoyogi Park were very nice. Especially a few with big long branches with lots of blooms on them. Sure it was crowded but I wouldn't say that's a place to avoid. It's a great place to Hanami even with the crowds.

[michaelcedillos]

Those pink trumpets are popular in India ❤

[cyclerical]

Definitely a mixed bag (I spent last weekend around Izu) some trees already bloomed, some insanely full bloom, full of Mejiro and Bees! I travelled around 500km cycling over the last week so have seen a huge variety. North Saitama in particular, the plum blossoms are still Tsubomi (just buds) - but will be travelling back there soon too :) I spent a month in Komagome last year, Rikugien Garden is a must see if in the area.

[felixgonzalez]

I enjoy this video and n great job guy

[Nelsea]

i never picked a sakura, i did 1-2 times held the branch to stabilize the flowers in the breeze for a picture. never touched the flower bases. love the sakura and how the make a snow effect