Cherry blossom time in Tokyo, and despite the fact that this happens every year the Japanese people still get very excited following the passage of the sakura as it opens in the warmer southwest and gradually spreads throughout the country. The peak is the day on which it is “mankai” or fully open.

For the Japanese, this is also a great chance for a party, and from early in the morning they head to the local parks or riverside with plastic groundsheets to set themselves up for a day’s eating and drinking. Special food and drinks are also produced from seasonal lunch-boxes to special cherry blossom ice cream, the common theme

being it’s all very pink.

The other custom is to find and photograph the “perfect”  tree or petal. I’m just taken in by the enormity of it all so am just happy to snap what I like.