Sakura in Shioiri Park

31 Mar Sakura in Shioiri Park

Posted at 17:13h in Archive, Event, Fashion, Lifestyle, Outfit by Fatima Omri 0 Comments

One of my dreams was to take pictures with cherry blossoms in Japan. When I lived in Japan, I took the beauty of cherry blossom, aka Sakura (桜) granted. They were just an ordinary part of my life, and I only saw them as a symbol of farewell and a new beginning. They bloom between March and April, which hits the time around graduation and the entrance ceremony in Japan (school starts in April and ends in March). Now that I live in the US and have grown older, my appreciation for flowers, especially cherry blossoms, has grown as well.

My business trip to Japan was March 20–29, which, when I researched, Sakura happened to be peak blossom time. So, I quickly went on Instagram to look through photographers that I could book for the weekend. I found a very sweet photographer called Thu, and we decided to do a photoshoot at 2 spots, which were Chidorigafuchi Moat and Shinjuku Gyoen. As the time got closer to the weekend of the photoshoot, Thu was letting me know how the forecast of peak blossom is later than expected this year and we may need to think about relocation. Across the sea, I was also monitoring Sakura, utilizing government sites as well as social media like YouTube, where I could see livestreams of Chidorigafuchi Moat. Meanwhile, I was still hoping that it would get so warm that they would blossom on the weekend; however, there was absolutely no Sakura blossoming in those locations. Absolutely zero nada zilch! The weather was actually very depressing while I stayed in Japan; it was very windy, cold, and rainy haha.

But we don’t just give up; even those locations won’t work. I searched across social media to find a few spots in Tokyo where Sakura was blooming. I had to travel a little further than I planned in the beginning, but we gotta do what we gotta do; we decided to meet up in Shioiri Park (汐入公園) for the photoshoot. Unfortunately, the photoshoot day was the opposite of the warm, springy weather that I had hoped for. I was wearing a puff-sleeve dress in freezing rainy weather, and I lost the sense of touch in my hands in 10 minutes. It must have been tough for a photographer to shoot in such miserable weather, but we powered through it! Regardless of the sad weather and changing plans, I was so happy to see the line of cherry blossom trees by the river blossoming. There were many birds chirping, and I could feel a little spring. There were also a good number of people visiting the park to see the cherry blossoms: one couple taking wedding pictures, bird watchers, and many tourists.

When I was anxiously checking the Sakura forecast on the morning TV show (they take Sakura very seriously, so that good amount of show is about traveling to different areas in Japan to check if Sakura was blossoming haha), I saw tourists who were on the Sakura viewing cruise on the river wearing raincoats looking at trees without any Sakura blossoming. I felt very sorry for them because they probably came to Japan to see the famous cherry blossom and prepared for a long time just for the moment. I assume they have to check the Sakura forecast and book the tour ahead of time, as it could get sold out fast. I mean, the whole point of the tour is to see cherry blossoms. Without it, it’s just a boat ride. So, I was happy for the tourists in the park who could see some cherry blossoms while they stayed in Japan.

The peak was actually delayed by about a week from its forecast, and right when I was heading to the airport to catch a flight back to the US, the sun came out, and they had hot summer-like weather for a week lol. Honestly, I had to laugh a little about this trip, but I am so proud that I made the best of it. Toward the end of the trip, I had a chance to go to Shinjuku Gyoen as Sakura started to blossom. I will talk more in the next post, so stay tuned! This is not the end of the journey for me. I will continue to dream about more cherry blossom photos, and when I make that happen, I will share it here 😉 Thank you for reading the post, and let me know if you have any Sakura tips for me!