We took a brief trip to Tokyo a couple of weeks ago, just to get away from the peak of the bozosoku season in Mishima, which is a really unpleasant experience, unless you like mindless morons making noise all day and night.
The cherry blossoms were full that weekend in Tokyo, which was a nice bonus for us and so we went round the city to a few famous cherry blossoms spots.
The first place we went to was Ueno. Its well known in Tokyo for cherries. Hanami parties were strictly forbidden this year, so the atmosphere was a bit tamer than usual.
After strolling around Ueno park, getting a couple of shrine stamps and visiting a local history museum, we got back on the Yamanote line and went to Nippori, pretty close to Ueno. The place we had come to see was Yanaka Cemetery, but, what a difference from a stereotypical bleak, dingy cemetery that you might imagine. Here are some pictures.
Finally, we made our way up to Asakusa. The cherries along the river here are famous, and consequently, it was packed. There's a good second hand English bookstore just across the bridge from the subway, so after seeing the flowers we went there and I got to carry a load of heavy books back home.
Here are a few pictures of the river and the cherry trees at Asakusa.
It was overcast in Tokyo, but the cherry blossoms were full that weekend and the rains were coming on Sunday night, so it was a great time to go and see them.