I have photographed cherry blossoms all over Tokyo and throughout my own prefecture of Chiba, but there is still so much of the country I have not seen during this beautiful season. So, over the past few years, I’ve tried to plan out a trip during cherry blossom season to see something unique. This year’s trip took me to the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture. As someone who was in Japan on March 11, 2011, Fukushima has long had a rather negative reputation in my mind – a place mostly to be avoided (nuclear disasters have a way of doing that). But, outside of the exclusion zone, things are pretty safe these days, so I figured it was time to pay a visit .
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Day 1
This was a very short trip, just two days with an overnight stay in Aizuwakamatsu, but I ended up seeing a lot more than I expected! As I was driving along on the highway, I spotted a section with hundreds of cherry blossom trees along a river, with some vibrant pink trees along an adjacent hillside. I left very early in the morning with a plan to make it to Tsurugajo Castle a little after 8am, but after seeing the view from the road, I simply couldn’t pass it up. It took me a little bit to find my way there, but it proved totally worth the deviation from my original plans!
The place I stopped is called the Natsui River, where hundreds (if not thousands) of cherry blossom trees line each side for several kilometers. Because this is in Fukushima Prefecture, the blossoms bloom a couple of weeks later than Tokyo, meaning the season is nearing Children’s Day in Japan, which is celebrated in part with decorations called koinobori – a carp-shaped kite, usually strung up in a series of at least two or three. Here along the Natsui River, in addition to the festival stalls and lanterns, there were also koinobori strung up all the way across the river, extending out across adjacent fields.
I ended up spending the entire morning and most of the afternoon along the river. It was beautiful and peaceful! At the time, I didn’t really know where I was, but I later discovered this spot is only about 25 miles from the famous nuclear plant that melted down following the disaster in 2011. You really wouldn’t know it – everything seems to be flourishing. Thankfully, it seems that in this area most of the impacts of the nuclear disaster were short-term, with radiation levels having long since dropped back into the normal range. I hope the economies in this area can continue to recover in the decades to come, and most of all, I hope those working on the plant can finally get rid of the remaining nuclear waste once and for all.
I did manage to make it to Tsurugajo Castle in time for sunset, which was about another hour and a half from the Natsui River. It was a great way to end the day, and an exciting taste of what I had to enjoy the following day.
Day 2
The second day of this short trip was spent mostly around Tsurugajo Castle in Aizuwakamatsu, with a couple of side stops in adjacent towns. Although I ended up hitting the very end of the season here, in the morning the blossoms were still stunning. And the late season would lead to a real treat later in the day.
Later in the morning I headed to Aizumistao, a smaller town about 15-20 minutes from the castle by car. I came to this spot after some scouting on Google Maps. Although not quite as lovely as the castle grounds or the Natsui River from the previous day, there were still some great sights in this area and plenty to photograph, including a short torii gate tunnel at a nearby shrine next to the river.
In the afternoon I went back to the castle, where I stayed until it was time to come home. By the time I arrived back, the cherry blossoms around the castle grounds had started to fall in earnest, with many of the trees almost bare by the end of the day. This gave me ample opportunity to photograph sakurafubuki, the term for the falling of the blossoms, which literally translates as “cherry blossom blizzard.”
The falling of the blossoms also allowed me to do some photography of fresh petals floating in the water of the castle moat. This may seem rather mundane, but it’s actually a very unique sight to the season! This is because castle moats are one of the very few places you can find both calm water and a flow enough to capture the motion of the passing petals (though you’ll need a strong ND filter for this during the daytime – I used a 10-stop filter).
Despite the short duration of this trip, I walked away with a ton of images and video to edit. In fact, there are quite a few creations that didn’t make it into this post. But hopefully this gives you a taste of what the area was like.
The great thing about this trip, other than the beauty of the region during this season, was the relative peace and quiet. So many places around Japan right now are packed with tourists, but tourists still don’t seem particularly excited about visiting Fukushima. This meant it was easy to get parking, easy to get around, and easy to enjoy photography without all the stress of some of the more popular areas. Even at some of the most popular spots around the castle, there was little crowding, and almost no competing with other photographers for a particular composition. In the morning, there was almost no one else around at all – I was able to get several of the morning shots without anyone in them with ease.
I’m not sure where I’ll go next year, but this trip to Fukushima really set the standard for the kind of place I’m looking for. If you’re looking for a great spot to visit during the season, I highly recommend you check out this area. What you see here is just the tip of the iceberg.
