We left Japan a few days before the cherry blossom season started and now, just four weeks later it is drawing to a close. While walking around Yoyogi park in Tokyo, on one of our first days in Japan we were greeted by a familiar, fleeting pink sight: how could it be? It turns out the different varietals of cherry bloom at different times, and we’d stumbled upon a small grove of winter sakura!
As well as the sakura, this time of year has lots of fresh growth: plum blossoms galore!
I couldn’t resist these adorable pups in their sakura-coloured vests
That winter sun was so hard on these jet-lagged eyes
The soft green and pink were incredible!
And there were a few silver eyes flitting between branches
On our last day in Tokyo we visited Ueno Park
In Kyoto, small trees were beginning to bloom everywhere we looked
The expensive grounds at Nanzen-ji had a lot of pink and white
The flowers kept catching my eye amongst the otherwise barren trees
At Ryoan-ji the flowers were a deep red
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine is adjacent to a plum grove, in bloom when we visited