The samurai poet Watsujin once
wrote the following haiku: ‘The
cherry blossoms/ Put the whole
world/ Under the tree.’ He’d
have had no idea that a couple
of centuries later, the poem
could feel quite literal in Kyoto,
Osaka and Tokyo each spring. So
popular has the sakura (cherry
blossom) or hanami (flower-
viewing) season become that
the cities often see their hotel
occupancies filled long before the
blossoms peak in April. Cherry
blossom fever infects every part
of life, with sakura KitKats, sakura
Starbucks lattes, even a sakura
beer. Whether any of it tastes nice
hardly seems to matter during the
height of hanami mania.
If that all sounds a bit much,
it might be worth casting your
eyes further afield. To avoid
the crowds, head to Mito in
Ibaraki Prefecture. The home of
Kairaku-en — one of the three
official Great Gardens of Japan
— Mito has become famous for
its sensational plum blossom,
which precedes the cherry trees,
in February.
Alternatively, if you prefer
your colour wheel to have a
little more variety, come for
Japan’s magnificent leaf-peeping
opportunities in autumn. While
hanami season starts in the south
and edges north, it stands to
reason that the opposite is true of
autumn, which begins on far-flung
Hokkaido in late September and
sinks like a cooling thermometer
all the way down to Kyushu in
early December. JL
JAPAN IN BLOOM
Mono-
no-aware
Literally ‘the pathos of
things’; appreciating the
transience of the
worldIMAGE: AWL IMAGES60 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel
JAPAN