Reply To: Japan Master Thread

[meta]

Aston100 wrote:

meta wrote:

@Aston100 This year cherry blossoms are late. The first blooms are only expected next week and the full bloom in the first week of April. You are usually good for a week after full bloom. It was snowing in Kyoto yesterday and the snow is expected in Tokyo tomorrow.

Thanks, so with unpredictability in mind for 2025, would it make sense to fly into Osaka, from where I can organise a flight further north east and back? possibly even fly to Sendai (if I’ve missed Sakura in Osaka) after finishing my Osaka itinerary and then train it down to Tokyo (See my screenshot above)?
Hotels will be fully flex.

Or is there a way to fly in and out of Tokyo but have the flexibility to immediately go to Osaka and do a week there if the cherry blossoms are still knocking around when I turn up?

Frustrating to plan this.

You can do a day trip to Osaka from Tokyo and vice versa. It’s ‘only’ 2h30 on the shinkansen. Also Hiroshima usually has them first, but it’s progressive. It starts with a first bloom which is nothing like on the photos, then takes a week for a full bloom then another week to ten days to fall off fully. I’ve been to Fukuoka in Kyushu mid-April a while ago and the full bloom just started. It’s like weather you can’t plan for it. And tbh this is not the best thing about Japan. So I’d plan to be around the time, but not chase it actively.