Its CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME in JAPAN!!!

Spring marks the annual cherry blossom festivities, these trees blooming for only a very short period each year, the Japanese make the most of it. Hanami parties are rife across the country with people enjoying Sake and the spectacular blossoms. A group of us decided to visit the famous TakiZakura cherry blossom tree in Miharu. Its about a 30 min drive from Koriyama but in order to see it we had to rise at 5am! During the day the road is so crowded that it literally takes hours to do the 30min trip. People come from all over Japan to see this tree, the pilgrimage as amazing as the tree itself which is 1200 years old!!
As you can see in the photos there were many people there already and that was about 6am.
I could imagine the Samarai training below this tree every year in the spring, and its still here now.