Japan? Japan!

Would suggest doing it the day before too. If the hotel we stayed at allowed it, we usually aimed for the evening before leaving and never had issues.

Such a great service as it makes days you are in transit just a normal day without the luggage. Worth every cent.

 

For those heading up in March/April, the cherry blossom forecasts have started:

https://n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/sakura/?lang=en

 

if i had to do it again i'd prioritise sakura season to be in hirosaki when in full bloom and as they fall (pic below). otherwise it's pretty much the same everywhere and last year i did the travel up from south to north to see as much of them as i could but it got repetitive. IMO autumn is much much better, more colours, longer window for viewing times etc. i ended up preferring to see rogue cherry blossom trees in forests and mountain tops. otherwise in kyoto there's a temple where they do night viewing (you can pay more to skip the queue and get there earlier when they turn the lights on, at least i could for autumn).

 

How accurate are they usually?

 

dat awkward moment when a visiting japanese gets a taste of aussie hospitality

 

^damn. that got me boiling from just reading it. to actually experience it, i would have gone ape shit lol.

 

Sorry, very late reply, but I can confirm they're pretty damn accurate. It hit all the details +/- 1 or 2 days on our trip at the beginning of April. You can't plan a trip by it because areas have wildly varying growth/bloom dates and rates. You just have to aim for the first weeks of April and hope it doesn't get hit by a coldsnap like in 2024.

 

Osaka Expo... It's worth a visit!

If you're planning on Heading to Japan between now and September, it's worth adding to the itinerary. That said, book the tickets and jump through the lottery hoops well in advance.

I've on my second evening pass and while the overall site is not crowded, all the major pavilions are booked out. Aside from the busy pavilions, random encounters in the Commons buildings are interesting. Slovakia had some nice wine tasting. Smaller and less popular pavilions have short lines and no booking later on the evening as well.