Friendly Fukuoka - Blooming Cherry Blossoms around Kyushu

While writing this post the leaves of the cherry blossom trees are already green. The sea of pink petals has fallen down and the contrast with the beautiful blooming trees couldn't be bigger; piles of dried up brown petals are scattered on the streets instead. Even though we could enjoy the sakura (the Japanese word for cherry blossom) for about a week, that week passes by too quickly. I regret not enjoying them more, not going to a hanami (Cherry blossom viewing party) one more time, not trying to take better photographs, not going to the temple across the street while the tree was blooming... Japanese say that the beauty if the sakura lies in the fact that it blooms so shortly; we should enjoy them in that short time to the fullest, like we should enjoy life to the fullest while it lasts. That's the beautiful thing of sakura. For me it is a little bit saddening as well, but that's how it is.

I was so lucky to see the first cherry blossoms bloom on our school trip to Usa shrine and Beppu, known for the natural hot springs. That deserves a separate post, but I want to show the pictures of the sakura here. They were a nice dark pink color in Beppu, while the one tree in Usa shrine was a light pink.

Usa Jingu

Beppu

Ohori Park

When we arrived back in Fukuoka from our weekend away the cherry blossoms were just in full bloom, talking about nice timing! So we organized a hanami in Ohori Park with the new JTW students and tutors. Hanami literally means 'flower viewing', but it basically means that you go to the park, do a picnic and drinking with your friends or family and just enjoy the view of the flowers while stuffing yourself with food and alcohol. There was a group of old Japanese men next to us and they did drink a lot! They even came up offering food and drinks and wanted to take a group photo with us. Oh, the adventures of foreigners in Japan and drunk Japanese men, ha! Sadly it began to rain in the late afternoon so we retreated back home.

people picnicking throughout the park and the wheel of my bike ;)

Maizuru Park / Fukuoka Castle

In the evening I went to Maizuru park, right next to Ohori park. Maizuru is where the remains of Fukuoka castle are and the cherry blossoms are lit up at night during blooming season. Actually, the first three photos under the Ohori Park title are Maizuru photos as well. The sakura look very enchanting when lit up. There are free spots to take a look, but some special spots cost money to enter. Me and my friend went to all three of these paid spots and the first one with a view over the park and the city was the most gorgeous. The other two spots were gorgeous as well, but I don't think it is worth paying for it.

Fukuoka Tower in style with Cherry Blossom Display

The demonstrate some of the crazy light up colors

I hope you enjoyed seeing the cherry blossoms! Kyushu is definitely a great place to view them and they bloom bit earlier than in Tokyo and Kyoto, so if you are too early to see the sakura there, you could always try in Kyushu (or even earlier in Okinawa). What is cherry blossom season like in your country? And which of the above places did you like most?