H A N A M I S P OT S
BLOOMING
HITLIST
GOOD TIMES
As winter turns to spring, cherry trees start to blossom, but Japan has much more to offer than sakura.
Cherry blossoms
Odawara Castle in Odawara, Kanagawa March to April
Moss phlox
Fuji Shibazakura Festival in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi April to May
If you can’t make it for the sakura season, don’t fret. After the cherry blossoms have
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faded, it is then the turn of the gorgeous shibazakura. Also known as moss phlox or pink moss, shibazakura grows not on trees but as a lush carpet on the ground. These flowers bloom only for a few short weeks and are a rare sight. At this unique flower festival covering 2.4 hectares, Mount Fuji towers over the fields blanketed in vibrant pink and purple blooms. A cute fuzzy miniature Fuji-san — carefully shaped and bedecked with flowers — provides the perfect photo op. After strolling on this pink carpet produced by Mother Nature, tuck into local specialities at the Mount Fuji Delicious Food Festival at the same venue, including chicken giblet stew and horsemeat udon.
TEXT SUZANNE SNG PHOTOS JNTO, 123RF
Hanami literally means “flower viewing” in Japanese, but it almost always refers to cherry blossoms. Take a day trip out from Tokyo to Odawara, about 90 minutes by shinkansen, and have the majestic Odawara Castle as the backdrop to your Insta sakura posts. This is considered one of the top sakura spots in the country, and rightly so. Even though the castle only dates back to 1960 (the original 15th-century structure was destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, then later rebuilt), the 300 cherry trees around it have survived for almost a century, making it through World War II. At dusk, the park is transformed with hundreds of paper lanterns, allowing you to see the pink blooms in a whole different light.
