More Pictures of Cherry Blossoms Than You Ever Wanted to See

So. Cherry Blossoms. I've told you that the underlying "purpose" of my recent trip to Japan was to get to experience cherry blossom season at its best. We were very lucky indeed and managed to be there at exactly the right time in every place we visited expept for the northermost one. I wasn't entirely sure whether plucking a blossom or three warranted the death penalty, but I braved it anyway and took a little sprig home as a souvenir:

Here is a selection of the dozens, if not hundreds, of cherry-blossom-pictures I took:

schoolgirl taking a close look (Shinagawa, Tokyo)

little girl in cherry-blossom pink running along a sakura-lined avenue in Odawara

couple enjoying a picnic in Himeji

sakura dekorations on the more modern vending machines

faux sakura blossoms in the hair of the train-cleaning team

sakura blossoms on ceremonial sake cask (Meiji Shrine, Tokyo)

sakura in the rain 1 (Nagoya Castle grounds)

sakura in the rain 2 (same place)

many of the sakura trees we saw were more white than pink

MM preferred the willow-style variety

my favourites were the fluffy ones that look like snowballs

these were the blossoms that greeted us near our hotel upon arrival in Tokyo

no such luck in Kakunodate in the North of the island of Honshu, where the snow had not even melted in the village

sometimes, there were dark, plum-coloured, sakura blossoms as well (Asakusa, Tokyo)