Spring has sprung and with that comes one of the things Japan is most famous for: cherry blossoms!It was road trip time once again and this time we went to Tsuruoka, Yamagata!
Something you may or may not know about Japan is there is actually a pretty considerable amount of mountains, such as the one in the background of the above photo. Much of the area is rice fields and other rural scenes with a backdrop of towering snow covered mountains. Pretty cool stuff. Anyhow, onto the cherry blossoms.
Tons of the trees you see around are actually cherry blossoms. Japan loves to cover their parks, public lands, and just about everywhere with cherry blossoms. On our drive through rural Yamagata we spotted many little patches of cherry blossom trees in small towns and one little town nestled in the mountains had a particularly spectacular main road lined with cherry blossom trees. Probably a good kilometer (about a half mile) or more. Super cool stuff. We also ran across a small town industrial district with many huge old cherry blossom trees lining the hillside. It was quite a sight, but unfortunately one that could not be captured with a camera. Did manage to get a picture of one of the trees up close so you can see that these are some old trees that have been around for ages.
Cherry blossom season doesn't last for long, and I think that's part of what makes it so special to Japanese people. It is beautiful, but only fleetingly. Soon the flowers will fall the ground in a pink rain (helped along by the actual rain we got recently hahaha). A prime example of this can be seen in a picture I took at a castle recently, because yes you can just stumble into castles around Japan. According to a sign there is one about a 5min walk from my house, but it doesn't look anything like this (actually it just looks like a farm).
I love the ducks swimming through the cherry blossoms. I just love the ducks here in general. In college I used to go feed ducks with my friends so it reminds me of those times. Plus their antics and quacking is just cute. As you might guess, it was a rainy day and my umbrella broke so I was walking around in the rain like a proud Oregonian but one of the volunteers ran an umbrella over to me. Tried to give it back when I left but he told me to keep it, so now I'm a proud owner of a clear umbrella that you see a gazillion of here in Japan.
And lastly, a picture of myself with the cherry blossoms because have to at least get a couple pictures. Had my friend pick my outfit that day because after years of college I've lost all of whatever fashion sense I had to begin with.
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