Sewari Park in Yawata is the #1 Cherry Blossom Viewing Place in Kansai

by Kyle Yates | Apr 3, 2014 | Kansai Culture, Kansai Events, Kansai Leisure, Kansai Living, Kansai Parks, Kansai Visitors

Japan is a small largely populated country where the majority of its 128 million residents celebrate spring by going to a park or shrine to see cherry blossoms. Parks and shrines are usually crowded on weekends and popular ones are even crowded on weekdays. This is...

Cherry Blossom Season Begins

by Kyle Yates | Mar 22, 2014 | Kansai Culture, Kansai Events, Kansai Leisure, Kansai Visitors

It’s not quite cherry blossom season but the blooms are beginning their opening process as greenish yellow buds sprout out of the blackish barked stems. Most of the buds have no hint of link or white, but I did see a few with a little extra color. That means it...

Cherry Blossoms at 50%

by Kyle Yates | Apr 9, 2012 | Kansai Area News, Kansai Culture, Kansai Leisure, Kansai Visitors

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...

Freaky Hanami Weekend Weather

by Kyle Yates | Apr 3, 2012 | Kansai Culture, Kansai Leisure, Kansai Visitors

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...

Warm Weather Should Speed Up Cherry Blossom Blooming

by Kyle Yates | Mar 31, 2012 | Kansai Area News, Kansai Culture, Kansai Leisure, Kansai Visitors

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,...