23 Comments
User's avatar
Janice | Travel + Photography's avatar

Stunning! Visiting Japan during Cherry Blossoms was one of my favourite trips several years back.

Expand full comment
James Rainsford's avatar

Lovely photos!

Expand full comment
Hideo Tanikawa's avatar

Thanks for your lovely photos and beautiful photos. I always enjoy your work and there are new findings as a Japanese!

Expand full comment
Mark Kennedy's avatar

Good timing!

Expand full comment
Cato Gilmour's avatar

Just sublimely beautiful, all of it, except the situation in your home country of course.

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Thank you Cato.

Expand full comment
Marloes Wardenier's avatar

Beautiful photos! And 🙏 for Turkey (it was in the Duch news a lot).

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Marloes, thank you for the wish - it means a lot 🤞

Expand full comment
Cameron Cayer's avatar

Beautiful photos! The sakura are just opening in Tohoku now.

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Thank you, Cameron. Sakura in Tohoku must be beautiful! I have been up there many times but always in autumn or winter.

Expand full comment
Christine N Casimira's avatar

Oh dear, Burcu. We literally crossed paths while you were in Kyoto. I too slipped early on that rainy early Sunday morning into a quiet, dark cafe playing jazz that could have belonged in Paris. I managed to fall ill - first time in 40 years of travel - and missed out on Takeo and Yoshino. Perhaps next year. I did go to the Monet exhibition at the Kyocera museum. I did not know about his paintings of Japanese bridges. It was magnificent to enter his world, if just for a little while. It goes till June and it was not that busy on a weekend. Thank you again for sharing your experiences and taking us with you on your journeys.

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Ah, Christine, maybe we could have crossed paths! I hope you had a fantastic trip. And as always, thank you for your time.

Expand full comment
Jeannine's avatar

Such amazing photos, Burcu! Thank you for sharing your sakura experience!

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Thank you for your time, and support Jeannine!

Expand full comment
Lauren S.'s avatar

Thank you Burcu, how completely transportive your photos and descriptions are of the sakura. I’ve only seen a few blossoms here or there, I can only imagine 30000 trees. And thank you for your perspective on Turkey.

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

Lauren, thank you for your time and particularly note about Turkey. I really appreciate it.

Expand full comment
Rachel Jeffrey's avatar

Fantastic images - those pink trees! Wow!

Expand full comment
Marco & Sabrina's avatar

Oh to walk the Philosophers Path when it is heavy with blossom. We've only ever done it in winter

Expand full comment
Burcu Basar's avatar

It is also wonderful during the autumn colors season.

Expand full comment
Francis Turner's avatar

I totally understand the nervousness of booking trips to see sakura. So many times round here places have their Sakura-matsuri a weekend too late or too soon.

This year we had to brace the prospect of snow to see our first one (snow apparently blew past the day after, when the locals had their matsuri) which was in fact in full mankai form. After that things got better though there was one tree we hoped to see that was barely in bud and another where the skies were very threatening.

Still thanks to the cold the higher altitude trees are still not finished budding so we may get something more to see this weekend too.

Expand full comment
ZuZu’s Petals's avatar

Burcu, thank you for this beautiful post. I’d have commented sooner but we were in Singapore (after being in Japan)when it arrived, and our schedule was such that I rarely had a moment to appreciate it fully. The most impressive Sakura for us was along a Nara riverbank near to our hotel, and we enjoyed a spectacular Sunday viewing with hundreds of Japanese families. Then we got another fleeting chance to see it as our train leaving Nara moved west. Your post with its link to older posts has made fascinating reading. Thank you so much.

Expand full comment
Rachel Joy's avatar

This is amazing! I hope to go and see the Sakura in Japan one day. There are some beautiful places to see it where I live. But nothings as magnificent as the 30000! 🤯🌸 absolutely incredible!

Expand full comment
Maya Rushing Walker's avatar

So beautiful! I thought I wasn’t that interested in sakura and completely changed my mind when I saw them for myself this year in Kyoto. Next time I will go to Mt. Yoshino, your photos are stunning!

Expand full comment