VISITING YOSHINOYAMA – JAPAN’S MOST FAMOUS CHERRY BLOSSOM VIEWING SPOT

Heralded as the number one most beautiful cherry blossom spots in Japan, Yoshinoyama was a must see for me this sakura season.  It was a trip that I eagerly anticipated for months and obsessed over planning. I’m happy to say that this beautiful location in Japan lived up to its famous reputation and I was delighted beyond measure to see such splendour.

Yoshinoyama, or Mt. Yoshino (yama translates as ‘mountain), “has been Japan's most famous cherry blossom viewing spot for many centuries, at least according to www.japan-guide.com. It is said that the first trees were planted there more than 1300 years ago. Today, the mountain is covered by approximately 30,000 cherry trees, which open their blossoms during the month of April.”........Yes, shall we pause, allow me to repeat that little mind-boggling fact;  on Yoshinoyama there are 30,000 cherry blossom trees!!!!

The "Sea of Sakura" on Yoshinoyama 

The trees in lower area of Yoshinoyama (called Shimo Senbon) typically open their blossoms in the last days of March or first days of April. The "cherry blossom front" then moves up the slope to reach the upper area (called Kami Senbon) about one to seven days later. The cherry blossom trees in the inner area (called Oku Senbon) bloom another week later. 

After the first blossoms have opened, it takes the trees about three to seven days to reach full bloom, the best time to enjoy hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Full bloom typically lasts for about one week. Depending on the weather, the starting date and length of the blooming season can vary considerably from year to year.

If you read and understood that last paragraph you can easily understand why planning a trip to Yoshinoyama was a logistical nightmare, especially with a large group of friends. The seasonal behavior of those fickle little flowers is near impossible to predict. Thus, you are left feeling ready to pull out your hair as you are faced with the decision of, “What weekend do I book!?!?”, because you know booking accommodations far in advance (I would recommend 2+ months) is an absolute necessity. 

This was a moment where I thanked my lucky stars I lived in Japan and therefore I had some flexibility in traveling. My friend came up with the perfect solution: book accommodations for the two most likely weekends that the blossoms would be in bloom and then cancel whichever weekend the flowers were not in bloom. In the end, we opted for visiting Yoshinoyama the second weekend of April.

My accomodation recommendation for visiting Yoshinoyama is to stay in Osaka, which has far more reasonably priced accommodation (especially important for me because our travel group was pretty large with 10 people). Then, at a reasonably early time wake up and catch the train to Yoshinoyama (the trip is 1.5-2hrs). Our goal was to get there early because, with it being the #1 spot for cherry blossom viewing in Japan, we figured it was likely to be pretty busy.  Plus, the sooner we got there the more time we had to enjoy ourselves ☺

My Wonderful Yoshinoyama Travel Buddies

A DAY ON YOSHINOYAMA

I was as giddy as a small child on Christmas morning as my still sleepy friends and I rode the train to Yoshinoyama from Osaka. We all felt anticipation bubbling as we neared our long awaited destination.  For me, it was the moment I felt like I had been waiting a lifetime for. Ever since deciding to move to Japan I had been filled with a fervent desire to experience cherry blossoms in all their Japanese glory and, from everything my research indicated and I had heard from my coworkers, Yoshinoyama was a place where my dreams were about to become reality.

My spirits refused to be damped by the misty rain that greeted us as we stepped off the train. We began to walk from Yoshino Station toward the Oku-senbon (top left corner) following the map below.

It was an easy uphill walk along paved roads that cross-backed up the mountain at the beginning. So while I personally think that you can never go wrong wearing hiking shoes when you plan to do a lot of walking, you could definitely accomplish this “walk” (the tramper in me just can not bring herself to call it a hike…) in athletic running shoes. 

Sakura Sake

Be sure to take time to pursue the cute Japanese goods stores on the way up. There are many sakura-themed souvenires to be found, my personal favourite, that I bought for a good friend and coworker back home in Fukui, was a small clear globe-shaped bottle of sake with a yoshinoyama cherry blossom floating in the bottle. My friend was delighted with this small but beautiful omiyage (Japanese word for souvenir).

Yoshinoyama was breathtaking to behold. It is said that the person who stands at the top of the mountain can see a sea of sakura because of the 30,000 cherry blossom trees that cover the slopes of the mountain. Despite the rain that drizzled down, the mood of the group was happy and we were all overcome with a bout of camera-happy-picture-taking fever. 

The view as we ate our picnic lunch

Our group had planned a wonderful picnic to enjoy on the mountain, and I could not more highly recommend this. It was simply delightful to sit in good company overlooking the beautiful view of the cherry blossom dotted hills. Many Japanese people do the same, so don't worry about it being weird, picnic-ing under cherry blossoms on Yoshinoyama is very much ok. The only thing you have to worry about is the incredible interest Japanese people will show regarding your lunch! 

Matcha and sakura mochi wrapped in a tangy sakura-leaf

After lunch, much to our glee, the sun peaked its head out from behind the clouds so we could all relish a bit of well-deserved sunshine. After walking towards the top for another hour or so we decided to turn around before reaching the summit. We had timed the cherry blossom trip perfectly for the lower areas, however the upper areas had yet to begin to bud. Instead some of our group decided that a visit to the onsen (a Japanese bath house) was in order and proceeded to relax in an outdoor bath overlooking the sakura. Myself and two other friends wanted to enjoy drinking matcha (a traditional form of Japanese green tea) and a sakura flavoured sweet in one of the many quaint mountainside cafes instead.

Yoshinoyama was better than Disneyland for me! 

Visiting Yoshinoyama is a memory that I will treasure forever. It is a place in Japan that I could not more highly recommend to tourists during cherry blossom season. The beauty of this mountain was worth enduring rain, crowds of people and all of the planning necessary to visit during sakura season.

I enjoyed my visit to Yoshinoyama so much that I'm sorely tempted to visit again next cherry blossom too! According to my coworkers the mountain is equally beautiful in fall with red, orange and gold foliage making it look like the mountain is on fire and in early summer the hydrangea flowers begin to bloom!

Yoshinoyama I think it's safe to say that you have not seen the last me!

XOXO,
J

Sakura Season in Japan

Sakura is the Japanese word for “cherry blossom”.  Sakura is the most famous flower in Japan and considered by many to be Japan’s unofficial national flower. It’s annual blossoming has been celebrated for many centuries and holds a very prominent position in Japanese culture.

In Japan there is a wide variety of cherry blossoms but there is something all these trees share: the ephemeral beauty of their blossoms. Most sakura trees bloom in early spring and their blossoms last for only a week before in evanescent fashion they fall away making room for the leafs to come out.  The most popular variety of cherry blossom in Japan is the Somei Yoshino, its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink near the center of the blossom. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The brief blooming period of the sakura trees and the fragility of their blossoms, has led to a strong association in Japanese society with the transience of life. Even as the sakura petals fall to ground they are breathtaking to behold as they visually appear to transform into snow falling around you at the breath of even the slightest breeze.

I’ve been told that the sakura blossoms first began to be revered in the Heian Era which began in 794 and lasted until 1185. This is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height.  The Heian period is also considered to be the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, poetry and literature.  It was during this period that cherry blossom viewing, in the form of special parties that took place outside so that the beauty of the sakura could be observed called Hanami, first gained popularity.

A drawing given to me by one of my students that illustrates the extent to which sake is a very popular hanami drink

Many hundreds of years later, Japanese people continue the tradition of hanami (cherry blossom viewing) parties held under the blooming sakura trees is still celebrated. Thousands of people gather wherever the flowering sakura trees can be found and the festivities fill the parks as people hold feasts under the flowering trees, occasionally indulging in one too many drinks of sake, and sometimes these parties go on until late at night.

These parties are so popular in Japan that a sort of cherry-blossom-craze sweeps across the country. There are even cherry blossom forecasts on Tv!!! If I have learned one thing it is never underestimate the Japan love for sakura season! Therefore my advice to travellers wishing to visit Japan during cherry blossom season is book very far in advance.

Friends Are The Spice of Life!

Recently my life has been full of intriguing developments, exotic adventures, sensory overload and a flood of new experiences.  That is to be expected, one would at least hopefully and rationally anticipate, when an everyday, average, Canadian girl decides to uproot her life and move to Japan.

Teaching English in Japan is something I have dreamt of doing since I first discovered that it was possible to.  It has been my life’s dream up until July 31, 2011 when it transformed from a dream into an exciting reality.  From the moment this hppy wanderer stepped off the plane and into the Japanese version of “Wonderland” life has and never will be the same.

A dream come true is exactly what teaching English overseas is for me. It has exceeded my expectations regarding how much I would enjoy it and in other ways blown my expectations out of the water.  During the past five months in Japan I have learned so much, about myself, about Japan and also about what it means to travel.  Yes there is a difference between touring and traveling….I will save that can of worms for another day though.  There is one truth in my life that I am certain of however, and it is that traveling has helped me to grow as a person and mature as a human being.

I have always loved the saying “Friends are the spice of life”.  It’s a saying full of truth in my eyes.  Just as good spices help to make a dish more delicious, good friends help you to become a better person and they encourage you to try new things even if they scare you.  Writing a blog, the thought of sharing my thoughts with the world, is always something I’ve contemplated doing but been too afraid to truly pursue.  The fear of rejection, the fear of opening my mind to the world, and the the fear of my musings being read and then disregarded as mere trash, has held me back.  That is until quite recently, one of my closest friends in the whole world came to visit me…

My friend’s decision to travel to Japan, with her major intention being to see me, helped me to see myself in a different light. To her, my decision to move overseas, and not merely overseas but also to a country as incredibly foreign as Japan, is incredibly brave, possibly bordering on insanity.  It is something that she would, “never in one hundred years be able to do”.  For the purposes of this story it is important to understand that my friend and I are as close as two friends can be, she is the macaroni to my cheese, and I swear there are times when we can have an entire conversation with our eyes. No, sadly we are not telepathic, as cool as that would be but, we run on two such similar brain waves that it was shocking to me that for the first time in my recollection I was doing something she would never want to do.  We have spent six wonderful years together spilling secrets, laughing, crying and occasionally and very secretively indulging in the sexy performance of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean (much to my embarrassment I will admit multiple times). I have often been heard saying that she understands me better than I understand myself.  Needless to say I was baffled, shocked even, by this unexpected development in our friendship.

In the eyes of my friend Japan is about as different from Canada as a country possibly could be. Yet I somehow survive! Also, not only do I merely survive, it is obvious to anyone who sees and talks to me, I am thriving!  For ten wonderful days we traveled Japan, and I shared my new life with her, trying to help her see why it was I completely in love with it.  She thanked me profusely during these travels saying over and over again how she would never have been able to do this without me.  That she thought I was the perfect Japanese tour guide.  I had organized the entire itinerary filling our days with the very best each city had to offer, happily answering her cultural questions to the best of my ability, insisting she try famous Japanese foods that she never in her wildest dreams would have eaten (and sometimes discovered that she liked), and all the meanwhile being able to enthusiastically regale her with the history of famous sites.

One of the major conversation topics that cropped up, time and time again on those long train rides however was: why was I able to do what I do and be happy?  I had left the life I had known, my friends, my loving family, familiar places and yes even my language, behind for a country where I knew no one, spoke only a beginners-level amount of Japanese and couldn’t read the labels in the supermarkets!  It was craziness to her, the adventure of a lifetime for me.

I had never thought of myself as remarkable, sure I loved traveling but who would want to read my travel blog when so many other blogs exist out there on the web? Plus, not only that, I’m a Commerce major not an English major, I am not a writer! Then there’s also the fact to consider that I’m just so damn busy… The list I can assure you went on and on in that fashion for quite some time; pathetic really, just one excuse after another.  One day however before we separated, my friend looked me in the eye and said the words that have inspired this blog:

"You are one of the most well-traveled people I know.  You clearly don’t see yourself the way I, and other people do, we see you as a truly remarkable traveler whom we wish we could be like!  Listening to you talk about traveling is fascinating, and I would love to have you plan the rest of my travels."

It was those words that made me think that I could actually write a blog. That, if I thought of my blog as travel advice for my friends and family who might one day follow in my footsteps, writing my thoughts wouldn't be so intimidating. Since then I have given a lot of thought to starting a blog and I begin writing now with the hope of sharing the lessons I  have learned from traveling, my love for discovering new and wonderful things, what it means to be a true traveler and advice on what to see and where to go!

Until next time,

J