Mankai – Fully Opened Cherry Blossoms
Have been visiting cherry blossoms spots all week from Osaka to Kyoto to Nara and the blossoms have finally reached 100%! From this point on, blossoms will begin dropping their petals. Saw some cherry blossoms today in Hirakata shedding. Petals were dropping off and blowing in the wind creating the snow effect that many people long to see. The ground was a beautiful mix of brown and whitish pink. The next stage of cherry blossoms will add more color as the green leaves begin to spring...
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Cherry Blossoms at 50%
The past few days before the weekend were warm, but this weekend got a little cooler. Cherry blossoms were about 30 to 40% opened Saturday and about 40 to 50% today, Sunday. With the warm weather we had during the daytime yesterday and today, the blossoms should open a little faster Monday. Give the sakura cherry blossoms a few more days and they will be fully blossomed. Cherry blossoms should be 100% by Thursday. By Saturday, the flowers will be falling off creating the beautiful...
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Osaka and Kyoto Cherry Blossom Report
Spent the night away from home last night camping. Luckily, it was Japanese style camping where I didn’t even have to sleep in a tent. We slept in a lodging area with a nice bath and campfire indoors. The reason I say we were lucky is a huge storm came through yesterday afternoon. Sheets of rain fell as winds as strong as 87kmh/54mph whipped trees all around us knocking down branches and limbs. On my way back to Kyoto, I stopped along the way checking cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms in...
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Freaky Hanami Weekend Weather
For the past few years, weekends have been a drama with weather. One thing that has almost always happened is it rains Friday night and stops early Saturday morning. Then around lunchtime, the clouds begin gathering again. From this point, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. One Saturday during hanami, it rained all night Friday then stopped around 8:30am. The sun gradually came out and warmed up enough we could take our jackets off and play in short-sleeved shirts. But that all...
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Warm Weather Should Speed Up Cherry Blossom Blooming
Warm weather has been hanging around the Kansai region of Japan this past week bringing a mix of sunshine and rain. Rain began to fall yesterday afternoon and continued throughout most of the day today tapering off around 2pm. Temperatures at that time were warm, around 12 degrees Celsius. Shortly thereafter, the winds began to pick up and strong cold air started blowing in. Tonight, temperatures will be down near freezing as well as tomorrow night. But this shouldn’t deter the already...
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Traveling to Japan in Spring
Spring is a great time to visit Japan! As the weather begins to warm in March, rain begins falling more often and the grass begins to turn green. This clears the air and opens up beautiful blue skies. Florally speaking, plum blossoms are the first to bloom. Birds fill the branches as they sip the nectar from the flowers. A few weeks later, cherry blossoms make their presence known. After cherry blossoms (sakura), peach blossoms begin their process. They are somewhat temperamental and bloom...
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