While leading my annual cross country Japan cherry blossom photo tour expedition, participants often ask me which cherry blossom I believe is the most beautiful and photogenic.  My answer is always the same, “Sorry, there’s no way I could possibly choose, as there are over three hundred species of flowering cherry blossom trees.”  I continue to tell my clients that each cherry blossom represents a different type of beauty, and I could no more easily choose a favorite sakura as I could a favorite theme for photography, plus I have been using the same cross country cherry blossom route for over 25 years.  This route takes participants, my team, and I from the Pacific Ocean side of Japan into Tokyo, across to the Sea of Japan, and back.  This route has never let me or my participants down, as we always discover the perfect cherry blossoms.  This route starts at sea level in Tokyo, then takes us to the midlands at about 1,000 meters, and then journeys up to 2 - 3,000 meters, depending on the altitude of the cherry blossom bloom.  Over the course of the Japan photo workshop, participants will roll back down to sea level on the Sea of Japan at Joetsu Takeda castle, one of Japan’s top ten cherry blossom viewing spots.  During the course of the cross country Japan cherry blossom photo workshop, one thing I always hear from participants is, “I didn’t realize Japan was so big,” but my cross country cherry blossom and Essence of Autumn routes are similar and very complex, on any given day, I could be taking up to a dozen different routes, and we never know where along the route we’ll find the perfect cherry blossoms, but I guarantee anyone who knows this route has never been let down.  But trust me, you need to be a local to navigate these regions.  Even if you’re a weekend warrior photography Tokyoite or from another urban center, you most likely won’t be able to find your way because several of the backroads crisscross and are unmarked.  Even Google Maps only has an ‘unnamed road’ or some government assigned route number that only locals actually know.  Tourists and visitors are advised by local ryokan owners to stick to main roads.  And I guarantee you want to be traveling with a local well established pro photography workshop agency that knows the best times of day and locations to capture gallery worthy prints to hang on your walls or studio. 

Japanese locals have a good read on the sakura because they don’t have to travel far to see them, but international visitors who have no frame of reference will book any run of the mill agency, hoping that they’ve booked one of the agencies that boasts ‘insider information’.  In my experience, that insider information is one of the staff members either googling cherry blossom data along their strictly on the beaten path route or consulting the office magic 8-ball for mystical insights.  If you go it alone like the estimated 80 million domestic and international visitors in Japan to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and join a run of the mill tour agency, or google the best time and places to view cherry blossoms, the odds are stacked against you, but if by chance you do view the perfect cherry blossoms, my advice to you is go out and buy a lottery ticket because you will never have a luckier day!