Japan Cherry Blossom Photo Tours are different every year, and each year I lead a cross country cherry blossom viewing experience to allow for variations in sakura blooms.  Japanese sakura, or cherry blossoms flourish at different times depending on which region of Japan you are visiting because Japan is latitudinally long at over 3,000 kilometers and has 6,852 islands, and each island and specific location has individual characteristics that occur only in that region, so photo tours become a bit of a game as you are chasing cherry blossoms of different varieties cross-country.  Weather also plays a key role in what type of blossoms you can see.  Good luck finding a travel agent from a run of the mill company that can read and make sense of a weather map and will allow the itinerary to be modified on the fly to help clients spot and photograph full bloom cherry blossoms.  Many international photographers who visit Japan think that visiting only one or two regions that is reported to have the best cherry blossoms is all that’s needed to get the quintessential cherry blossom photo, so they sign up for these fly by night tours and a high percentage are disappointed with their experience, as they were either to late or to early to experience the perfect blooming cherry blossoms.

Many prefectures have their own amazing or highly recommended area, and each part of the location plays a key role in appreciating the ephemeral simplicity and beauty of Japan’s most loved spring flower.  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 the path and into the river itself.  In Niigata prefecture, Takada Park is home to the prefecture’s prized cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms at Takeda castle come with another photo op, Takada Castle.  At an angle you can photograph cherry blossoms and the castle spectacularly  giving you an unforgettable photo.  I lead my group cherry blossom photo tour to the next level, visit countless eye candy popping photogenic locations across several Prefectures starting in Tokyo then into Saitama, Gunma, Niigata, Toyama, Nagano, Yamanashi, Shizuoka and back into Tokyo.  On my annual 12 day Japan spring photo tour you are assured to experience the perfect cherry blossoms, and return home with gallery worthy images of your time spent in Japan, chasing the perfect cherry blossom, so join me on my annual cross-country cherry blossom photo workshop or book a private workshop with me so you can join the Japan photo tour of a lifetime.