The beauty of shibazakura at Takinoue, Hokkaido

Be prepared to see the whole page in PINK !!!! ^^

We had a road trip to Takinoue and Kamiyubetsu to see shiba zakura and tulips on June 1, 2013. I had been dreaming of going to these two places but the time was never right. There were total 15 people in our group, so we rented two cars for the trip. ^_^ I will write another post about Kamiyubetsu later.

Earlier we wanted to join tour package instead of driving there on our own. However, finally we decided that going there by car would be a safer option, since the flower blooming schedule seemed to change a lot this year! The money we spent was about the same with the tour price, anyway. 

The tour packages to Takinoue and Kamiyubetsu were available from May to June 3, while surprisingly the shiba zakura just started to bloom on around end of May this year... o.O What did the people who joined the tour before the end of May see? >____< The tulips, maybe... but no shiba zakura, definitely. In fact, the shiba zakura flowers weren't fully bloomed on July 1. Javier saw some pictures online showing that some parts of the park was still covered by snow when the opening ceremony was held, haha! ^_^

As I have always said to everyone asking me about the best time to visit Hokkaido, prepare your trip well and decide what you want to see, because, although Hokkaido has tons of amazing flowers, the sceneries with precious flowers do not last the whole year!

Yuhuuu! the 8 persons in our car! We had 2 drivers in this car: Javier and Adriano. Javier was the driver at that time, so he wasn't in the picture. In addition, the small blue pattern on the back left side of the picture was Wang-san sleeping, hehe.. ^^

.... I love it when the snow seemed to appear in the wrong place at the wrong time... __ __ !!

Finally we arrived! ^^ Hmmm... is it really as good as in those posters or images in websites?? Reallyyy?? ^_^ We were so excited, as well! From far away, it looked like as if the grasses around there were painted in pink...

The main carpark was so full, so we had to park at the additional carpark area which was quite far from the park. However, no need to worry because they provided some free shuttle buses, so we didn't have to climb to reach the place * fiuh! luckily .... o.O *. We had to buy the tickets before boarding the shuttle bus btw. It was 500 yen per person, but it became 400 yen per person for groups with 10 people or more.

It was really so pink! ^^ The flowers were not even fully bloomed yet. I'm sure it would be even prettier if we came around 3-4 days later.

It was such a hot day full of sun! I became a bit dizzy actually because the sunlight was too striking. I really regretted of not bringing my summer hat... Anyway, we arrived just around the lunch time, so we had lunch first before starting to walk around. Everyone brought our own lunch, except Fayna and Xavi: they brought tons of garbanzos salad for everyone... o.O hehe!

We used the self timer feature to take group pictures, but I'm not sure why it was quite difficult to take the perfect pics ... =P Well, I guess taking jumping pics is never easy *excuses...* hehe.

Now it's time for the real group picture! =P 

*many attempts, as well... *

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. :)