Hi HT,

As the locals would call you Hamburg joint-

HAM- BA- GA !!!

Hi everyone I just had to drop a line in as we have just had an amazing experience in Hirosaki. Here is a snippet from my trip report that I try to write every evening before bed.

"We left Noboribetsu with the 8:40 train and arrived in Hirosaki at 2:10 pm. Our hotel for the evening is the New City Hotel which I arranged through Japanicam dot com. This is the first time I am trying them as they had the best rate I could find online for this hotel in the cherry blossoms season. It is a Best Western Hotel. I had read in previous months that they had gotten away from the BW chain of hotels but the sign is above the door and everywhere to be seen in the hotel so another goof by the Trip Advisor crowd.

The hotel itself is right next to the JR Hirosaki station and is very new and nice. Ok enough about the details as we just returned from several hours at the Hirosaki Castle and their more than 2600 cherry trees which were all in peak blossoms, dang what a sight. I have been to many places now in Japan and have seen peak blossoms in most of the places that we have been to but this place is by far the best I have ever been to yet (we leave for Kakunodate in the morning). What a sight! We were both just stunned to witness what just happened to us. We were expecting and hoping that we would see blossoms in full bloom but not on the magnitude and beauty that we both have just witnessed. I am very happy that we had an extra day to kill when making our plans so I decided to slip Hirosaki in just for the heck of it. I had read a little about the place and decided to shorten a long commute day with an overnight here. This place in peak bloom honestly makes Ueno Park in Tokyo in peak bloom look like a small circus sideshow. Honest folks it is that good. If you ever have a chance to see Hirosaki in full bloom it is a must see place. KimJapan and bmttokyo and all others who live in Japan who have not been here before and love to view the cherry blossoms put this place on your radar for future reference". Or come up on the Shinkansen tomorrow and see for yourself.

Aloha!

glad to hear more of your report as we thought you had fallen off the ends of the earth....i bet the blossoms are a sight to behold

Oh, HT, it sounds fabulous! Perhaps that's THE place to put on my list for a spring trip to Japan.

Kathie,

Yes, Cheryl would have burned at least a 1 gig card taking pictures.....I almost did, lol. This is the best cb spot we have seen yet by far. It's pretty much in the boonies and not a Tokyo or Kyoto with all the people by a long shot but a must see if you are going to view the cherry blossoms, imho. More when we get back in my trip report. Leaving for Kakunodate in a couple of hours :)

Aloha!

How wonderful to hear of your experience in Hirosaki! More, please.

Loving the updates....only thing you are missing at home right now is all of the VOG! Enjoy the rest of your trip :)

Glad to hear your experience in Hirosaki. I have a friend in Tokyo who originally from Hirosaki. He always tells me the sakura there is really out of this world. Your post has just vouched what he keeps telling me.

HT wrote:

KimJapan and bmttokyo and all others who live in Japan who have not been here before and love to view the cherry blossoms put this place on your radar for future reference". Or come up on the Shinkansen tomorrow and see for yourself.

Wish I could but am now in Manila busy with real great happenings. Will definitely keep that in our future "want to see CB spots ". Waiting for photos. Enjoy the rest of your trip !!!

hawaii, I love your phrase:

"dang, what a sight."

I thought I was the only person who still used "dang."

My teenagers almost die whenever I say that.

Glad you got the peak experience for sakura and that it turned out to be in a surprise situation that you booked on the whim at Hirosaki. It's all the better that way.

Love your report snipets! Can't wait for the whole thing.

So how much longer do you have, another week? Oh dang, I shouldn't bring that up...

Thanks for reminding me emd :)

We have had a beautiful time in Japan and this time around and the trip report is just about ready. We leave Sunday at 7:35 pm and get back to HNL Sunday morning at 7:20 am so we get to relive Sunday again.

We are doing the last minute shopping in Tokyo the next couple of days and of course trying out some new places to eat which will be in my report. Looks like a little rain later today so we are off to shop till we drop before the rain starts!

Aloha!