Sakura in Sapporo, May 2013

Sakura in Sapporo, 2013

Finally sakura came to Sapporo! ♥

First of all, some of the pictures are Javier's! Thanks, Javier for the amazing pics! ^^

This small-but-simply-beautiful flower has been the sign of the arrival of spring. We had been waiting for it to bloom with excitement! As you might have known, Hokkaido tends to be chilly (if not cold, hehe) most of time of the year, and the spring and summer always seem to come so late.

Last year we went again to Hakodate for the sakura when my mom came to Japan to visit me. It was really great, but the wind was too strong! I become weak when it is windy, so that time I enjoyed watching the sakura from the top of Goryokaku Tower more than watching them at the park. =P Anyway, this year we decided to stay in Sapporo for Hanami! ^_^

This year the sakura bloomed like 1 week later compared to last year... quite interesting. We went for hanami on May 17, 2013 in Maruyama Park, and the flowers were not fully bloomed! However, we were happy, because it was sunny on the hanami weekend this year, and we managed to enjoy the flowers with more warmth and sunlight (although the weather immediately changed to be more chilly after 4pm... expected.) !! ♥

Writing names on our cups :) (thanks Lidia for the pic! ^^)

Hokkaido University was full of sakura too! ^_^ A lot of people came to enjoy them as well as to have picnic under the the sakura trees. :) It was a great idea, I think. The sakura trees in Hokkaido University are not really all side-by-side, but they are still pretty, and it was definitely not as crowded as Maruyama Park or other hanami spots.

Some Hokkaido University students having picnic under the sakura tree

These pretty flowers... some people said they are another type of sakura, while some others said they are not... Anyway, my mom loves these flowers so much, and i think they are too pretty to be excluded from my post. :)

For tourists, fyi, sakura always blooms very late in Hokkaido compared to other parts of Japan. The schedule might move from the expected date, as well. Therefore, if you want to come to Japan especially to see sakura, I suggest you shouldn't risk your dream holiday trip, and visit other parts of Japan instead of Hokkaido, because sakura will last maximum only around 2 weeks! When it is raining, the flowers will drop even faster. In addition, the cold wind usually still blows during the hanami period in Sapporo, so it is a bit cold to have hanami wearing yukata (summer kimono), for example... something that I always want to do. :)