Trip Overview - 9 days Cherry blossoms viewing at Tokyo and Hakone

April is a good time to visit Japan as it coincides with the cherry blossom season. However, during the expected Sakura season, air tickets are not cheap and hotel room rates could go double or even triple. And the cheaper and better rooms get sold out pretty quickly during this time as many tourists and even locals travels to the popular cherry blossoms viewing sites.  It is a good...

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Tokyo in Spring–First Sight of Cherry Blossoms at Yasukuni Shrine and Chidorigafuchi Park

2 April 2015 The cherry blossom or sakura season in Japan is about a week and it starts and ends earlier or later than forecasted, depending on the weather for the year.  During the expected sakura season, air tickets are not cheap and hotel room rates can go double or even triple. It would be a real shame if we didn’t get to enjoy the sakura in full bloom despite paying a higher price for our...

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Cherry Blossoms Viewing at Ueno Park

3 April 2015  The above shows a map of Ueno Park.Ueno Park is another highly recommended Cherry Blossom viewing spot. It is one of Japan's most crowded, noisy and popular spots for cherry blossom parties (hanami). Ueno Park features more than 1000 trees along the street leading towards the National Museum and around Shinobazu Pond.Prior to going into the park, we planned to find some breakfast...

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Asakusa Temple and Nakamise Street

3 April 2015 After cherry blossom viewing at Ueno Park in the morning, we took the subway from the Ueno Station to the Asakusa Station. Entrance to the Nakamise Street was the iconic red lantern at Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) where groups were posing for photos beneath it.It took a while to walk down the Nakamise Street and into the main temple complex as every now and then we would stop to buy food...

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