Japanese sakura or cherry blossoms flourish at different times depending on which region of Japan you are visiting, so my Japan Cherry blossom tours often become a cross-country adventure, chasing the blooming flowers across Japan searching for mankai.  To catch the cherry blossoms in full bloom, one needs to ceaselessly check seasonal weather charts month to weeks to days ahead as the weather is the key in determining when the blossoms will be in perfect bloom.  Many international photographers visiting Japan think that visiting only one location that is reported to have the best cherry blossoms is all that’s needed to get the quintessential cherry blossom tour experience of a lifetime.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but after more than two decades of experience in Japan leading Cherry Blossom photography nature tours and workshops, I know that kind of close-minded itinerary planning will almost definitely lead to disappointment, but if you happen to catch the perfect cherry blossom, you are super luck - beyond lucky!  The moment after you’ve taken your last photo, you should go and buy a lottery ticket because that will be the luckiest day of your life.  Mother Nature has her own timing, and that means being mobile in pursuit of the perfect sakura.

Each of Japan's 47 prefectures has its own authentic pilgrim routes, some hundreds of years old, and others have been followed by artisans, pilgrims, Buddhists, samurai, geisha for more than a thousand years.  Today we visual artist-photographers are hiking, meditating, enjoying authentic Japanese ryokans, onsens, and authentic Japanese cuisine along with sweet rice wine saké on the same Za-zen hanami trails that the previous travelers did while appreciating the ephemeral simplicity and beauty of what should be, in my opinion, Japan’s national flower.  Japanese culture varies from location to location as much if not more so than the sakura blooms themselves.  For example, in Aichi Prefecture, you can photograph the spectacular blossoms along the Gojo River, and perhaps you may see some of the blossoms fall ever so artfully into and along the path as well as into the river itself.   Across Niigata prefecture, and along the Sea of Japan North to Aomori then Hokkaido is home to Japan’s most stimulating, passionately beautiful cherry blossoms, and along this authentic pilgrimage route, you will find dozens of Samurai Castles and hundreds of ancient shrines and temples that worship natural Japan and especially in spring the awaited cherry blossom after the winter snow.  I highly recommend Takada Cherry Blossom Festival Niigata Attractions Travel and Takada Park in Joetsu City, Niigata prefecture.  The cherry blossoms are perfect at any angle, and I know you can’t miss framing the Takada castle to provide the opportunity to take the picture of a lifetime.  The same blossoms may never come again, but you will have the Japan photographic adventure of your lifetime spent in Japan, chasing the perfect cherry blossom.

The challenge you will face, even if you know the locations, will be calculating the precise times to experience the perfect bloom.  You could try to rely on Google for recommendations, but those articles are scarcely updated after publication, so any changes such as weather will not be reflected.  This is why a Japan tour photography workshop leader with years of experience in the field is your best bet for your Sakura Japan tour of a lifetime.  If our first stop does not have the perfect sakura, then I have a second, third, fourth, fifth - over a dozen locations that I know like the back of my hand.