When is the best season to enjoy Sakura cherry blossoms in Greater Tokyo?

There are more than a dozen of species of Sakura (cherry), each of which has its best season of full blooming. SOMEI YOSHINO is the most popular Sakura species. On February 22nd (2024), the Japan Meteorological Agency released the forecast of “Sakura Blossom Front” , referring to the forecasted flowering date of SOMEI YOSHINO by region. It says that SOMEI YOSHINO’s flowering date in Greater Tokyo would be March 21st and it would be one week later, i.e. late March, when it reaches the peak of full bloom.

Then, any chance to get a view of Sakura full bloom earlier than late March? Yes, if you don’t stick to SOMEI YOSHINO.

The two photos above were taken on Feb 26 (2024) at Matsuda-yama which you can reach by 1.5 hour trip from Shinjuku Station, Tokyo. The Sakura species is KAWAZU ZAKURA which flowers from early Feb through early March, one month earlier than SOMEI YOSHINO. Petals of KAWAZU ZAKURA are bigger and more pinkish than SOMEI YOSHINO, which is why I think it is very worthy viewing KAWAZU ZAKURA.

Are you planning to visit Japan in January? Then, ATAMI ZAKURA would be what you need to look for.

Shown on the two photos above (and the cover photo) are ATAMI ZAKURA, taken on Feb 1st (2024) in Atami. You can reach the Sakura place by 1 hour trip from Tokyo Station. ATAMI ZAKURA is a local species and it flowers from mid Jan throughout mid Feb. Actually, ATAMI ZAKURA features the earliest SAKURA blooming among all species observed in Japan.

If your visit to Greater Tokyo falls on late March , you’ll have a very good chance to view full blooming of SOMEI YOSHINO, the most popular Sakura species. But, please remember your chance exists in Jan and Feb, too, with KAWAZU ZAKURA or ATAMI ZAKURA. Entering April, other SAKURA species like SATO ZAKURA and YAE ZAKURA will sure entertain you. Please feel free to contact me for such SAKURA information. Here is the link to Jin’s profile.

Jin Shibata

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