For about a week, in each place, Japan does something that no amount of description prepares anyone for. The trees are everywhere: along rivers, around castles, in car parks, on the platforms of country stations, and they all go off at once. Then it rains and it is over. Planning a trip around it is an exercise in probability rather than scheduling, and the people who enjoy it most are the ones who understand that before they book.
How the season works
It moves north, starting in the southern islands and reaching the far north weeks later.
Roughly late March to early April for Tokyo and Kyoto in a typical year, with real variation.
About a week of full bloom in any one place, and less if the weather turns.
Forecasts are published from January and refined weekly.
Altitude matters as much as latitude, so the mountains run later than the cities below them.
Late blooming varieties extend the tail by a week or two in some locations.
What hanami actually is
A picnic under the trees, on a tarpaulin, with food, drink and several hours.
A national pastime rather than a visitor activity, and the parks fill with office parties, families and students.
Daytime and after dark, with the trees lit in many parks in the evening.
Convenience stores sell everything you need, and their seasonal food is part of the fun.
Take your rubbish with you, which everybody does and which visitors sometimes do not.
Book nothing, join in, since the parks are free and nobody minds an extra tarpaulin.
Where to go
Kyoto, along the canals, in the temple gardens and on the philosopher’s path, which is the classic and the busiest.
Tokyo, in the big parks and along the rivers, with evening illuminations and a genuinely festive atmosphere.
Castle grounds, where the combination of white walls and pink is what most Japanese people picture.
Yoshino, a mountainside in Nara prefecture planted with tens of thousands of trees that bloom in bands up the slope.
The northern cities and Hokkaido, weeks later, for a second chance.
Your nearest riverbank, wherever you happen to be, which will be lined with them.
Practical notes
This is peak season and prices reflect it, along with a Japanese holiday week at the end of April.
Book accommodation early and choose cancellable rates.
Trains fill on the relevant weekends, and reserved seats are worth having.
Early morning at the famous spots is the only quiet hour.
Rain and wind end a bloom quickly, and a forecast of either in the middle of full bloom is bad news.
Petals on water are the second act, and some of the best photographs come after peak rather than at it.
Where this fits in a Japan trip
Blossom season shapes the whole trip rather than fitting into it.
For what the rest of the year looks like and whether spring is actually your best month, our guide to the best time to visit Japan covers the calendar.
For the other season people plan trips around, which is more predictable and arguably more beautiful, our guide to Japan’s autumn leaves covers the comparison.
And for the timing question that decides whether any of this is visible at all, our guide to the blossom forecast explains how the maps are produced, what kaika and mankai actually mean, and why the booking has to happen months before the first one appears.
The short version
Book a wide window rather than a date, take cancellable rates, and leave two nights in the middle unbooked so you can follow the front. Watch the Japanese forecasts from a few weeks out. Do the famous spots at seven in the morning and spend the afternoon on a tarpaulin in an ordinary park with convenience store food, which is what hanami actually is. And if you miss it where you are, go north or go up, because somewhere in Japan is at full bloom that week.
