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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Mar 20, 2014

Our guide to family hanami hot spots

The transition from winter to summer is just beginning, and that means something magical is about to arrive: cherry-blossom season. As winter loosens its grip, delicate pastel petals push their way out of gnarled sakura-tree branches — an early indicator of the warmth that will slowly envelop the archipelago....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 22, 2023

Get off the beaten path with some basic Japanese to see the sakura

The key verb to know when traveling is 'iku' (to go). Combine it with other verbs for further specificity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2009

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough

It's sakura (cherry blossom) time again, and I've got three special spots to recommend beneath the pale, poetic petals in Tokyo. One will present you with a single starlit beauty, another will have you rolling around in an expansive venue of varied cherries, or if the spirit moves you there's a climb...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2009

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough

It's sakura (cherry blossom) time again, and I've got three special spots to recommend beneath the pale, poetic petals in Tokyo. One will present you with a single starlit beauty, another will have you rolling around in an expansive venue of varied cherries, or if the spirit moves you there's a climb...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Mar 18, 2018

Go west to enjoy a family hanami party

At last, winter's grip is loosening and spring in Japan is on its way. Soon cherry blossoms will explode across the archipelago, and parks around the country will be full of smiles and picnic tarps. That's right: it's hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) season again — my favorite time of the year.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

Guide to top urban cherry blossom-viewing spots

The following is a guide to some popular cherry blossom-viewing spots in Tokyo and the Kansai region:
Japan Times
Places
Mar 30, 2017

Best parks for cherry-blossom viewing in Tokyo

Here are some of Tokyo's best parks for 'hanami' (cherry-blossom viewing).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 29, 2013

Dine with a backdrop of cherry blossom

With an ephemeral canopy of pink sweeping Japan, the JT's food writers know the perfect spots to dine with an eyeful of sakura (cherry blossom) — or just the right sake to sip as you picnic under the petals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 8, 2012

Prizes for every picnic as spring campaigns blossom

Free beer and WHAT in a box? Japan's spring ad campaigns are in full swing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 28, 2020

If you must go out, keep your distance in a quiet green space

With the current upheaval caused by COVID-19, Tokyoites have been advised from going outside to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But Tokyo apartments are cramped and constricting, and a solo sojourn in nature can do wonders to alleviate the anxiety the virus is causing. Tokyo has plenty up its sleeve that means you can bypass popular spots like Ueno Park for a moment of quiet all to yourself.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 24, 2017

Entrepreneurs use their diseases as springboard for business success

Despite calls for diversity in the workplace and "work-style reforms" being debated in the government, Japan has yet to come up with a way to fully utilize the talent of all who wish to work, especially those with rare and incurable diseases.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 8, 2005

Sakura, where art thou?

Here's a quick introduction to the Hato Bus Company: They're Tokyo's oldest tour bus operator. They cart holidaymakers around the country -- sometimes to far-flung places, sometimes to Roppongi Hills. They're a wonderful way to palm off guests from overseas, at least for a day. They make you wear bright...
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 23, 2023

The cherry blossoms are here and business is blooming

Kathleen Benoza explains what's at stake during the hanami season, while Thu-Huong Ha and Alyssa I. Smith discuss the science, symbolism and culture of sakura in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 5, 2010

Springtime special hotel offers

Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal. In Japan, spring means the coming of a new year — in schools, at companies, fiscally. During this season, hotels offer a wide variety of events for you to refresh and relax in style. Like the cherry blossoms that dominate the imagery of spring, these offers...
Restaurants
May 11, 2016

Spring gourmet special

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2012

Cherry blossom captures the flavor of spring

The Japanese love affair with the cherry tree and its pink, fragile sakura blossoms is world renowned. Every spring, the nation eagerly awaits for the first pink buds to appear on bare branches. The sakura zensen, or cherry-blossom opening front tracked by Japan's meteorological agency, shows where sakura...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 29, 2009

Bodies beautiful

At 2 a.m. on a spring morning in 2002, photographer Mitsuhiro Mouri received a phone call from the most famous actress in Japan.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Mar 31, 2020

Let's discuss the cherry blossoms

An article by Alex Martin looks at the history of Japan's iconic cherry blossoms, serving up new English terms in the process.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 18, 2019

Top 10: A local's guide to where to see the autumn leaves in Tokyo

From the mansions of former barons to riverside forests, here's Russell Thomas' pick of Tokyo's best autumn leaf-viewing spots.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Feb 13, 2014

Japan gets in the mood for love this Valentine's Day

Love is all around at this time of year, but on Valentine's Day in Japan it isn't so evenly distributed. The festival of romance has long suffered from a gender imbalance here: Feb. 14 is traditionally a day for women to give presents to men — not just their partners, but also often fellow students,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 5, 2010

Catching autumn's glory on camera

At this dazzling time of year, it seems that half of Japan's population turn into photographers journeying to their favorite spots or seeking out new ones around the city as they try to capture the myriad colors of autumn leaves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 30, 2013

Yokohama: What does Tokyo need to do to prepare for its foreign guests before the 2020 Olympics?

Restoring Tohoku? Stabilizing Fukushima No. 1? Explaining recycling to foreigners? What should Japan prioritize in time for the 2020 games
Japan Times
JAPAN / IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition
Sep 14, 2018

A city on the go: Tradition, interactive art and phenomenal eats

To first-time visitors, welcome to Tokyo. It's a vast, entertaining city bursting with a seemingly immeasureable number of things to do during any visit. Even residents usually try focus on one category — for example, food, as Tokyo has the greatest number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the world;...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 24, 2006

Japan's hordes of hoarders still look to their navel nest eggs

I have spent nearly 40 years writing about Japan, virtually all of the time trying to show how Japanese people are really no different from other nationalities. But, by God, there is one aspect of Japanese life that makes this country unique. I defy any reader to name a society that has a custom like...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 29, 2017

Akizuki: Romantic scenes meet 'Star Wars' lore in picturesque samurai town

The sakura trees that line the main boulevard in Akizuki are far from blooming. That moment is still half a year away, when the trees along the avenue flower to become one of Fukuoka Prefecture's best spots for cherry blossoms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 30, 2012

Urban safari in the concrete jungle reveals Tokyo wildlife

Tokyo is a city of many things, but "nature"? Not exactly a word that most associate with the metropolis. When it comes to the city's animal life, most Tokyoites think meiwaku dōbutsu (迷惑動物, pests) rather than yasei-dōbutsu (野生動物, wildlife), associating animal encounters with mischievous...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 15, 2011

Strawberries and shoguns in Shizuoka

It's a clear spring morning and the view over Suruga Bay just outside of Shizuoka City is captivating. At least, that's what my travel companions say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 3, 2009

Fleeting beauty, timeless dining

Impatient to see the first sakura of the season, we followed the crowds into Ueno Park. It's been a good while since we last joined in the revelry at Tokyo's largest, most boisterous cherry blossom-viewing party — and never before have we done it in such gourmet style.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 3, 2009

Innsyoutei: Fleeting beauty, timeless dining

Impatient to see the first sakura of the season, we followed the crowds into Ueno Park. It's been a good while since we last joined in the revelry at Tokyo's largest, most boisterous cherry blossom-viewing party — and never before have we done it in such gourmet style.
Two people try to take a selfie under the illuminated cherry blossoms in Kyoto’s Gion district last year.
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2024

Sakura stories revisited: Getting in the mood for hanami

We are revisiting some past content on the science, economics and culture of cherry blossom season.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition