This post was written in 2006. Some information may be out of date.
pentax *istds / 31mm limited/ resize only
Cherry blossom season in Japan is almost over now. It always comes a week or two earlier than in Korea..
Maybe because it stayed cold for so long in Matsue, the sakura bloomed later here than in other areas.
These are cherry blossom photos from Matsue Castle, where I went over lunch the other day.
In full bloom.
Sakura around the moat of Matsue Castle (the waterway that surrounds the castle).
The person taking a photo there is someone from my company. ^^
And another coworker made an unplanned appearance here too..
Cherry blossoms hanging down over the stone walls of Matsue Castle.
The weather was really nice. No yellow dust either. A few days later the yellow dust was so bad you could hardly go blossom viewing at all.
You can see a group of people out for blossom viewing in the distance.. That’s the usual vibe of hanami in Japan.
Drinking, dancing.. a fun, festival-like atmosphere..
Heading inside the castle grounds.
The sakura are beautiful. Maybe because it’s such an old castle, there were lots of old cherry trees too..
Cherry blossoms in the sunlight.. they just don’t come out well on camera.. oh well..
Sakura at their very peak..
There was a light breeze, but I couldn’t find any way to capture the swaying sakura..
This is Matsue Castle. It has stood since the days of the shogunate. Hardly any wars were fought in this region, so
the castle still looks exactly as it did when it was first built. I hear the lookout at the top of Matsue Castle is worth seeing..
not sure if I’ll ever get the chance to go up, though..
The back path of the castle..
Cherry blossoms I shot on the way down..
Cherry blossoms near the entrance..
Cherry blossoms I shot in macro on the way back.
They look great in macro too..
A very satisfying hanami.
The hanami bento we had back at the office. Two tiers, and not just plenty of food but good quality too. Especially the rice cake that came as dessert,
the best rice cake I’ve ever had.
There was an enormous amount of food, and since I ate it sitting next to the company president, it was a bit hard to digest.. (sob)