First 2015 Cherry Blossom Forecast for Japan Released

Jan 24 | Evan | No Comments |

iStock_000032609814_Small Cherry blossom season is probably my favorite time of year to experience Japan but it’s not always exactly the dates for year to year. The first cherry blossom forecast for 2015 of Japan’s cherry blossom season has been released by weathermap.jp! As with all forecasts, they are best guesses and will certainly be updated from now until the start of the 2015 cherry blossom season. Cherry blossoms, or sakura in Japanese, are particular fragile and even if the opening date is correct, weather, hard rain or strong winds can reduce the peak period or full bloom time that is best to view the cherry blossoms.

It is still early, but right now, the general forecast is slightly ahead of the average first bloom and full bloom dates for the 2015 cherry blossom season. For more information on the average blooming dates of cherry blossom trees in Japan and best places to view cherry blossoms, take a look at japan-guide.com or JNTO.

Here are the current estimates for the opening blooms of cherry blossom trees in Japan for 2015, with full bloom expected to be around a week or so after:

Updated February 4th, 2015 as the Japan Weather Association has released their first cherry blossom forecast for 2015 Spring season.

Updated February 19th, 2015 as Sakura Map has updated their cherry blossom forecast for 2015 sakura season. Just a reminder that these dates are the estimated opening date for cherry blossoms and full bloom should be around a week or so after.

Traveling around Kyushu | Tanada Rice Terraces

Aug 02 | Evan | No Comments |

Tanada, or in English, rice terraces, are rice fields built into hillsides and mountains. With the right timing and weather, they can provide excellent backgrounds for landscapes in Japan or other countries that have time. Accessing the best rice terraces isn’t always easy and finding information in English is rare, so I’ve become really interested in creating a tour to focus on some beautiful rice terraces in Kyushu. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but this summer I visited a couple areas of Kyushu including Nagasaki, Sasebo and Karatsu, to scout out the area. I knew my timing wouldn’t be good for photos as I went during the rainy season for Kyushu and also the rice had already started to grow tall in most parts of the rice terraces. Most of my favorite photos of rice terraces are when the season first starts and you can only see water in the rice fields. This makes for some magnificent imagery, especially when you get a great sunset.

Even though this trip to Kyushu was mainly to scout the area and during the rainy season, I decided to practice some HDR (high dynamic range) photography. The first time I really tried this was when I was in Japan during cherry blossom season on another tour of Japan. You haven’t seen any of those photos because they didn’t come out very well! This time, while I’m not thrilled with the results, they are at least good enough to share, considering it’s only my second attempt! Most of these are HDR but there are a few iPhone panoramic photos mixed in as well as a few HDR of other random places I found along the way in Kyushu.

Interested in coming along or in more information about the Japan Photo Tanada Tour? Contact me and I can fill you in!

Panoramic Kamikochi Photos

Jun 02 | Evan | No Comments |

Just a quick post today, again from Kamikochi. After sharing my favorite black and white photos from Kamikochi, here are my favorite panoramic photos of Kamikochi. All of these photos were simply taken with the iPhone camera’s panoramic photo tool and just cropped a little in photoshop. If you have been looking around the blog recently, you will recognize places like Myojin Pond, Kappabashi and Taisho Pond, and if you have been looking around Japan Photo Guide recently, posts from May would be a good place to see more photos from Kamikochi!

Kamikochi in black and white

May 25 | Evan | No Comments |

From Myonjin Pond to Taisho Pond and all the wonderful places in between, it’s no secret I love Kamikochi! I only wish I could have spent more time in this special place in the Japanese Alps to take more photographs and really explore the area. I would have also been really happy with different kinds of weather, instead of the constant mostly sunny and barely any clouds I had for the short time I was there. In any case, I picked 5 of my favorite photos in black and white of Kamikochi to share, but if you are just arriving to this post directly, be sure to check out the other posts and photos of Myojin Pond, Taisho Pond, Kappabashi and just walking around Kamikochi.