Ueno Park has been touted as one of the prime area for cherry blossoms in Tokyo. After a visit today, I can see why.
Along the main path in the Park, huge sakura trees don't just provide the much welcomed shade, the cherry blossoms on them also signal the undeniable arrival of spring. At first glance, they are very beautiful.. but after a while, the excitement kinda died down, at least for me.. Don't get me wrong, it still looked very beautiful, but the "WOW!" factor diminished..
Employees of many companies have been tasked to "book" good places within the Park for their seniors/management to get a good view of the sakura. If you look carefully in the photos, there are blue canvases on the ground under the trees and people sitting there playing cards or just chatting away. Those are the "bookers".. :)
Slowly as the sun is rising higher, the crowd is getting bigger.. From all the chattering and talking around me, I could say there are tourists from HK, China, Taiwan, Korea and once in a while some Caucasians..
After reaching the end of the main path, we turned around and went to the Shinobazu Lake at the center of the Park. The scenery there was much nicer..
At closer look, the sakura is pinkish in the center.. According to information from the Net, there are many varieties of sakura in terms of color and number of petals. But to the public and tourists, sakura is sakura. Who cares if it has 5 petals (the common variety) or more.. :p
After seeing cherry blossoms at 3 different locations, I still prefer the lone sakura tree in Komaba Park. Being the only sakura tree among other trees, its color and uniqueness stands out.. :)
Click here for more cherry blossom photos of Ueno Park.
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