Japan: Cherry Blossom forecast for 2006 available
 

Cherry Blossom forecast for 2006 is now online at:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011.html

I'll be in Tokyo for the last few days of the forecast span there. I might be just a tad late for Kyoto though.

domo for the info.

emd....and I am a tad too early for Kyoto, my only stop. However, before every trip I have ever taken anywhere I have perused at least five different websites for weather forecasts, and they very rarely come out as predicted. Hopefully we will both see some sakura.....

Mara, I'd be happy to give up seeing them in Kyoto if they will just bloom early enough there for you to see them there!

Thanks, emd :)

Thanks emd! Where will you go for viewing?

emd, I got chills when I saw those dates.

Different, earlier dates from Japan Meteorological Agency here:
http://gojapan.about.com/library/spe...ayosou2006.htm

But I think that the dates on japan-guide might be better. Last year I think that the JMA prediction was much earlier than how it came out. Could simply be the definition of the stage that the blossoms are in.

mwr, is that chills from the thought of being at the right place at the right time, or chills from just missing it?

the timing seems to be right in nagoya.

Here's the direct link:

http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Topics/l...006/sakura.htm

right place, right time. For Nagoya and for Takayama.

Well, one thing is for sure. Mrw didn't get chills from the weather in Southern CA. I know because I got on a plane at LAX and there were no chills there this morning. At Dulles when I got off, there was a definite chill.

I think the japan-guide predictions were right last year. I remember because although I was too early (late March), alan64, who went right after I got back, was there right on time for sakura and I recall thinking at the time that that japan-guide got it right.

If I was a betting woman, I'd bet that Mrw, kuranosuke, and moxie will all have very good sakura viewing in Takayama for the festival.

updated today.....
http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Topics/l...006/sakura.htm

NO WAY! I am going to miss it completely! I'll be a week late everywhere I go. And the thing is, these new dates are the exact same dates I was in Tokyo and Kyoto last year, and I missed them then! I give up!!!!

Emd, not sure that you will miss it! Last year the blossom was supposed to be at end March, till April 5. We arrived in Japan on April 13, and ALL our 10 days in Japan, in all places (Tokyo, Kyoto, Hakone, Osaka) we saw thousand of cherry blossom, different colors / shades.

I hope that also you will see it!

Thank you for the kind thoughts, valtor. I hope we are as lucky as you. It is elusive, this sakura thing. I know that from living in the D.C. metro area, and the forecast taht the city hangs it's hat on when they set the dates for the Cherry Blossom festival here.

At the worst, if we miss it, it will just keep me going back each spring trying to hit the right dates again. Not a bad outcome.

My sources have told me that the weather caught everybody offguard (including the forecasters) and the cherry blossoms are already blooming in Tokyo. Anybody else heard that?

I'm in Tokyo. No, the cherry blossoms have not started blooming yet. It's been warm, but then the last two days have been pretty cool again. There are some early blooming varieties that have already opened, but not the main ones yet.

hey hey hey
thanks for the info. we just booked our tickets to Osaka and looks like we should be hitting it right on time. Pure coincidence!
thx!

Thanks Mealea! That makes me feel a little better. We'll be arriving at Narita one week from today & if all goes according to plan we'll be in Izu right when the peak hits - my first time to see cherry blossoms in bloom, and my first trip to Izu too!

Maybe I should cancel my itinerary and go to Nagano, because it seems that is the only place they will be blooming by April 7, according to the newly re-revised schedule.

(Not)