Our Travels: Cherry Blossoms- Sakura

1/15/16 - 2/6/16

We had a great Christmas here in Okinawa. It was definitely different celebrating with just the five of us. The kids were still spoiled and we want to thank everyone who thought of us and took the time to ship all the many many boxes out here. New Years has come and gone. Nothing too eventful in ringing in the New Year. We were able to watch the fireworks from our balcony (Actually, I was the only one still awake to watch them.)

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Little did I know that late January and all through February was Cherry Blossom Season or Sakura Season in Japanese. This isn’t like any other season here on Okinawa. Cherry blossoms take over and you quickly learn just how important these little flowers are. The Cherry blossom may not officially be the countries national flower, but it is definitely the closet to heart. The Japanese are proud of their sakura, because no other country has it. Sakura is different from the cherry of other countries. To differentiate it from the fruit bearing varieties seen in other countries. Japanese sakura are called Japanese flowering cherry in English. The Sakura is also a deeper pink almost purple color instead of the light pink color that I have seen

There are 2 famous places to be surrounded by cherry blossoms and where they also have festivals to celebrate the blooming season. Okinawa is the first place in the chain of Japan’s islands to have their trees bloom and many come from mainland and even other countries to see them and take part in all the festivities.

late Jan.

Early Feb.

It isn’t only about seeing the blossoms, but all the limited time products that have a cherry blossom flavor and/or decorations. We have tried cherry blossom Pepsi (that is pink Pepsi!) Starbucks has a cherry blossom Frappuccino and even a special cherry blossom tumbler that everyone seems to be hunting down to purchase. Just about every commercial building has cherry blossom window decals and special flower decorations hanging throughout the stores.

The biggest festival destination would be up north in Nago, our favorite place, so of course we didn’t hesitate to take the drive up there. I really wanted to see the change in the trees so we made the trip a bit early for a preview and to hopefully be really wowed by the change.

Nago castle site has about 200,000 cherry blossom trees. You travel up about 100 stone steps (over 700 if you start at the very beginning) lined with cherry blossom trees and stone lanterns, through a torii gate and finally come to a Shinto shrine that is well worth the climb.

Stone lantern

Torii Gate

Shinto Shrine

However, when we made the trip back to the park a couple weeks later I can’t say that we were wowed. Sure there were blossoms, but I was expecting the trees to be full of them. I have heard talk that the trees were a bit light this year. Just makes me even more excited about next year.

To the kids surprise there is also a park hidden amongst all these cherry blossom trees!

Nago Castle Park