First Timer to Japan: Gardens and Cherry Blossoms

Earlier this year, my partner and I went on a two-week adventure to Japan for my 30th birthday year. It’s been a dream of mine to visit Japan and explore all its cultural and natural wonders. I haven’t done any travel blogging in ages, so I thought that a small photo series of my discoveries in Japan could be helpful for others who are in the midst of planning their first trip to Japan.

I’m a spring baby so we wanted to go in March/April to coincide with my birthday. I have always wanted to see the bloom of the cherry blossoms and I was a bit nervous if they would be blooming that early in the season. We kept watch of the calendar and felt pretty confident that we would see the sakura (cherry blossoms) in a few of the cities we choose to visit. And boy, did we ever! But, let’s start at the beginning…

Tokyo

The first morning we had in Tokyo, we spent in the forest park near Harajuku. It was the perfect, calming antidote to jetlag.

Kanazawa

Kanazawa became my favourite city out of the ones we visited this trip. The city park with Kanazawa Castle and Kenroku-en. According to their google maps location, Kenroku-en is one of 3 perfect gardens in Japan and is designed to be beautiful in every season. It was my favourite garden of the whole trip.

These trees are covered to protect them from heavy snowfall. So beautiful!

Kyoto

We went to Kyoto directly after 3 days in Kanazawa. I found there to be a lot of differences between the two cities. While I was Kyoto, I secretly missed Kanazawa. But now, when I reflect on special moments of our trip and look at the photos, I’ve found that Kyoto marks a mental shift that happened during my Japan trip and I experienced a lot of mental and emotional growth there.

The infamous Inari Gates in Kyoto. It poured rain the entire time but it didn’t bother us at all. In fact, it made the karaage snack at the bottom of the mountain even more satisfying while we huddled under our umbrellas.

When we visited the ground of Ryoan-ji, home of a famous zen rock garden, I found a brochure that contained a quote that I found very moving. It is:

“I learn only to be contented.” He who learns only to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor, even if he is materially wealthy.

A sentiment that is so far removed to what we are all encouraged to do now which is strive for the best. But the question is who decides what is “best”? Is it you? Or it society?

The photo below is a view from the Nijo Castle, a castle with incredible gardens and a place that marks the end of the Edo era.

A moody photo taken in Kyoto. I saw so many new colours there and tried really hard to use the pro features of my phone camera to capture the different hues.

Kobe

This is a photo of Billy walking the trail to Nunobiki Falls in Kobe, Japan. We fell in love with Kobe, its size, its feel, and its nature.