Unexpected Hanami

We didn’t really plan our holidays around the spring sakura season so we considered ourselves lucky to have caught an early glimpse of the blossoming cherry flowers while touring around Wakayama Prefecture in late March right before the Easter long weekend. Wakayama on the south-west side of Kii Peninsula may not be as popular a destination for sakura viewing, or hanami in Japanese, as Kyoto or even Osaka nearby, there were quite a few spots where cherry trees were planted, which gradually turned into a sea of pinks and whites beginning at around late March and peaked in early April.