It's cherry blossom season in Japan again and one of our friends sent us some awesome pictures from the Nagano prefecture which is Northwest of Tokyo on the coast near the Sea of Japan.The cherry blossoms sweep across the country each year. So while you will have local events surrounding the blooming of the cherry trees, you will be able to see it at different times starting at the south and spreading North up the country. So if you miss the blooms down in Kyoto you still can catch them up in Sapporo if it hasn't been too long.
Interestingly, although the cherry blossom is important in Japan, even being a symbol used for the police, some find the pear blossom to be even more preferred. Pear trees have a white flower while cherry trees have a pink flower so it's probably more what color someone likes better. Either way you get a lot of petals on the ground. Another friend once sent us pictures of a river that had been covered with cherry blossoms. The boat was cutting through the sheet of pink. It was surreal.
