Today I was inKanazawa, where the opening of the first cherry blossoms was announced on March 29.Full bloom was announced yesterday on April 6, and the cherry blossoms I observed in the city reflected that declaration. Nice weather is forecast until Wednesday with some rain predicted for tomorrow afternoon. As cherry blossoms tend to be sturdy against wind and rain for the first few days after opening, I do not expect tomorrow's forecast rain to bring great damage to the blossoms. Furthermore, relatively strong winds are forecast for Thursday, which may blow the flower petals off prematurely. Consequently, I expect the best viewing of the flowers to continue at least until the middle of this week while the weather holds out.

Matt was inTokyo today and reported that some of the blossoms are starting to lose their petals, especially the ones that opened earlier in the season. There may not be many mainstreamSomei Yoshino blossoms left to see in Tokyo by this coming weekend as more blossoms start losing their petals. Visitors planning and hoping to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo this weekend should considerlate flowering varieties or move further north to theTohoku Region.

My first spot inKanazawa wasKenrokuen Garden, one of the top three most beautiful landscapegardens in Japan. I found the cherry trees to be at full bloom, and expect the best viewing to continue through the middle of this week.

Until April 13, admission to Kenrokuen Garden is free, and the garden is illuminated in the evenings from sunset till 21:30.

My second and last spot was Utatsuyama Park, specifically a grove of around 250 cherry trees in a small valley deep in the park known as the 400 year forest. The large public park is named after Mount Utatsu, on which it is on, and east of theHigashi Chaya District. Several observation decks on the mountain offer nice views of central Kanazawa and the Sea of Japan, and there are approximately 500 cherry trees scattered across the mountain.

It takes about 50-60 minutes to walk from Kenrokuen to the 400 year forest or about 30-40 minutes on foot fromHigashi Chaya District. There is also a local bus to Utatsuyama Park, however with only three departures a day (one bus every three hours), it may be more time efficient to visit the place on foot.

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