Hanami

Of course! What else would a blog from Japan be about this week?

I have major hanami plans. With that damn "leaving Japan" clock still relentlessly ticking away in my head, and my chronic worrying and obsessive planning, I've got it in my head that I must treat this spring as if it were our last in Japan. We actually still have one more spring, but who knows what could happen between now and then? I'd hate to put things off until next year, and run the risk of something happening, and we end up missing sakura season next year!

I plan on visiting a different place everyday, for as long as the blossoms last. Although within Tokyo, I can probably visit several places in one trip. Here are my top choices.......we'll definitely be going to Kamakura (on Alisa's recommendation), Shinjuku Gyoen, Aoyama Reien (it sounds crazy, but I love this cemetery! It's really beautiful, but I've never been in the spring, so I'm super excited), around Naka Meguro, I'd also love to do a river cruise like Amy suggests, and we could do Sumida Park too, Chidorigafuchi and Yasukuni Shrine, Shiba Park, I know there was someplace else........can't remember now.

But I'm so torn about the timing! I watch the news every night to find out about blooming, and have been using the trees on base and in Fussa as a gauge, but I'm worried the flowers in Tokyo maybe blooming earlier than ours and we'll miss them! But I also don't have time to re-arrange my schedule for additional trips to the city if we go and the nothings blooming yet.
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