希望在人间 Sakura Blooming in Nagano

My friend in Japan, Yoko is so kind to invite me to Nagano on 7th April (atfer our Hanami in Hikarigaoka Park @ Tokyo). She said I may be able to see sakura blooming in Nagano instead of Tokyo which has reached it's full bloom few days ago. There will be a Sakura Festival from 5th - 21st April in Ueda Castle and we can do night viewing of Sakura (Yozakura). I just can't wait for that!!!

I will definately come back with more photos and story to share here. Meanwhile, see what Go-Nagano.net says about Nagano and Ueda City.

http://www.go-nagano.net/modules/contents07/index.php?id=1&mode=disdetailsisetu&cityid=3&junleid=3&indexid=6&kubuncode=1

花儿都开好了 Toooo late...?

 

东京的花儿都开好了。 也许，我这一趟的樱花之旅要变成‘樱花凋零之旅’了！ 多么让人失望！

 

也许也因为这样，让我更加感受到目前身在日本的友人们那热情 的款待。怕另我失望， 他们纷纷为我推介其它还有可能看得见樱花盛开的景点。 热情的Yoko更打算接待我到他目前居住的地方Nagano Prefecture 去追花！ 哈哈！

 

好吧！即来之，则安之。 位于中部长野, 美丽如画的轻井泽 Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture 也很棒哦！

 

“轻井泽是一个高档的山区度假胜地，位于长野县的一个活火山"浅间山"的山脚。这是由西方侨民于1800年代末期“发现”，并发展成为山区度假村。因轻井泽坐落在海拔约1000米，所以是一个避暑的好地方，现在许多富裕人士在这里拥有自己的别墅。自从长野新干线于1998年启用后，从东京前往更加方便，只需一个多小时便可到达轻井泽。在轻井泽可以享受各种户外活动，如网球，远足，骑自行车，打高尔夫球和滑雪，夏季和冬季滑冰，并有充足的购物机会。轻井泽同是沿着日本的"浪漫之路"上。”
http://cn.japan-guide.com/travel/chubu/nagano/karuizawa


好一个“浪漫之路”， 好像很吸引吧？
下文载自于： http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7450.html
搜索过所有网路，可惜没有中文翻译。
Japan's version of Germany's "Romantic Road" leads over about 350 kilometers from Ueda City in Nagano Prefecture through the mountains of Gunma Prefecture to Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture. Various interesting towns, hot spring resorts and lots of natural scenery can be enjoyed along the Romantic Road, including the mountain resort of Karuizawa, active volcanoes, the hot spring mecca of Kusatsu and the world heritage sites of Nikko. Due to a lack of convenient public transportation along many of its sections, the Romantic Road has remained off the beaten path for foreign tourists. Private transportation, such as a rental car, and two to five days are recommended to cover the entire route.

看来一天的行程好像太仓促了也。

 

 

 

期待樱花的盛开 Pre-Sakura Excursion in Japan

 

I was suppose to visit UK and Europe in Spring this year. Somehow, there was a strong current of inviting wave pushes me towards Japan (dunno why..?). I really did not have specific plan for this 3rd Japan trip, meeting with Arai San and my friends from JAIMS are the only thing came into my mind. Well, perhaps I just needed a holiday away from home. That's how I suddenly switched my 'Tulip Dreams' to 'Sakura Excursion'. Annie said she has to charged cancellation fees for causing disappointment (I'm not visiting her in England as planned).

 

My luck was pretty good during Chinese New Year. I got my flight ticket from MAS airlines only RM1700 all-in. On the same day, I booked my lodge for my 4 days in Tokyo with Apartment Hotel Shinjuku which costs me only less than RM1000 for 5D4N.

 

So it's all set and I am ready to go!

 

However,................. few days ago I read a report from Sakura in Japan Project https://www.facebook.com/sakurainjapan?ref=ts&fref=ts and found out that the first cherry blossom has begun!!! Most of the cherry blossom will come to an end by the time of my arrival, what a disappointed news  :(

 

Yoko was kind enough to tell me: "personally I think the new leaves after the drop cherry blossom are very nice too!" hahahaaaaa........ yes, she has soothes my pain a little! At least that put a little smile on my face reading it.

 

I have capture this article from Japan-guide.com today and guess there's still some hope to have Hanami with our JAIMS friends.

Too Late for cherry blossom in Tokyo!

When Japan's weather services issued their first cherry blossom forecasts back in the cold days of January and February, most of them predicted the season in Tokyo to peak in early April. However, temperatures in March rose far above average in most regions of Japan and especially so in the Tokyo region, taking the weather services by surprise and resulting in a record-breaking early cherry blossom season in the capital this year.

Due to the discrepancy between the initial cherry blossom forecasts and the actual blooming dates, many foreign tourists who booked their trips to Tokyo for early April, are now likely to arrive too late for the peak of the season. In order to help such tourists, we created this guide on how to see some cherry blossoms even when most of Tokyo's petals have fallen already.

Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/news/0026.html