2015 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan | Himeji Castle

Apr 29 | Evan | Comments Off |

Before evening returning from the the 2015 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan, I received a few inquiries about the 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan! If you are looking for that information, the details of the 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan can be found here.

Himeji Castle, located in between Hiroshima and Kyoto, is considered to be one of the top 3 castles in all of Japan and also one of best spots in Japan for viewing cherry blossoms. Himeji Castle just finished a 5 year long restoration and fully reopened to the public at the end of March. Between the newly opened castle, being one of the top castles in Japan and being one of the best spots for cherry blossoms in Japan, Himeji Castle was CROWDED! Don’t get me wrong, most popular places for cherry blossom in Japan are crowded, so we were expecting this, but we were told it was a 2 hour wait to go into the main keep!

Luckily, the cherry blossoms are all around the outside and since I had arranged to get tickets ahead of time, we didn’t have to wait long to enter the Himeji Castle grounds. We had plenty of time to explore the castle grounds and find great spots with cherry blossom and the castle and photos of just Himeji Castle.

While we did see our first blue sky and the sun for a few hours in the afternoon in Himeji, we didn’t have much of a sunset or sunrise the next morning in Himeji. I know of a few good places for spectacular views of Himeji Castle, which would really had been nice had we weather cooperated with our group tour but like most days of this trip, we had mostly cloudy and some rain but went anyway…

Want to see more photos from the 2015 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan? The group tour also went to Tokyo, Miyajima, Hiroshima, Kyoto and some of us to The Fuji Five Lakes close to Mt. Fuji. Stay tuned for more photos from the escorted tour of Japan!

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.

Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan | Maiko Portrait Session

Apr 20 | Evan | No Comments |

Maiko Portrait Session-13-japanphotoguide

The 2014 cherry blossom tour of Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan had been going great and filled with special experiences so far. When planning this trip to Japan, one of the experiences I was most excited about was this portrait session with a real maiko! A maiko is an apprentice geisha or geiko as they are referred to in Kyoto. Many westerners think that these women are prostitutes, but this is not the case (and has not been for quite some time). Maiko, geisha or geiko are really entertainers that not only must know how to perform songs and dance, but also how to social interact and talk with high ranking politicians and members of elite society. For more information about maiko, geisha, geiko and their history, the wikipedia page is a good place to start.

Maiko Portrait Session-20-japanphotoguide

To schedule time with a maiko is not so easy. First, you have to know somebody with a connection. I had a few interactions with maiko and geiko, and because of my experience with some geisha houses and my Japanese, I could have scheduled something by myself, but like many things in Japanese culture, the most direct way is not always the best. So even for me, the best way for me to arrange time with one is to go through one of my connections in Kyoto. Even if you have a connection or two like myself, availability can be a problem as there are not so many maiko around! Thanks to my connections, we were able to arrange 2 different portrait sessions with 2 different maiko. Now that we had the time scheduled, the difficult part was finding a beautiful place, where we wouldn’t be overrun by tourist rushing to take photos! So all the popular places were out of the questions, but we were able to find some more isolated areas that allowed us to make beautiful portraits in Kyoto. Here are just a few of my favorite portraits of the two maiko in Kyoto during cherry blossom season:

2014 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan | Tokyo and Kyoto

Apr 16 | Evan | No Comments |

I love visiting and sharing Japan during anytime of the year, but there is nothing like Japan during cherry blossom season! What started out as me helping the family plan by consulting on their trip, turned into a 8 day tour with them in Tokyo and Kyoto during cherry blossom season. We were perhaps a few days early for the sakura to be in full bloom, but towards the middle and end of the trip, we got to see some beautiful cherry blossom trees. Besides the cherry blossoms, we had plenty to do!

Tokyo and Kyoto-15-japanphotoguide

This tour of Japan was one of my hybrid general + photo tours where the father had a strong passion for photography and while the rest of the family enjoys taking photos, the tour couldn’t be just a photography tour. There were still some early morning photography sessions just the rest of the family was sleeping in and eating breakfast while we were out taking photos. The father’s main focus is actually wildlife photography but aside from crows in Tokyo, there really aren’t any wildlife photography opportunities in Tokyo! Instead, we were mainly focusing on cityscape and HDR images in Tokyo. I also arranged a portrait session in Tokyo. In Kyoto, I arranged two portrait sessions with a real maiko (Geiko in training, Geiko is what Geisha are called in Kyoto) and of course some of the amazing temples and shrines were our focus, along with the ever popular bamboo groves in Arashiyama.

Ninja Experience-10-japanphotoguide

Like I said though, this wasn’t just a photography tour of Japan! There was lot’s of sightseeing and experiences for the rest of the family as well! Of course we went to the usual suspects in Tokyo and Kyoto, like in Tokyo, Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara and in Kyoto, Golden Pavilion, Ryoanji, Path of Philosophy, Kiyomizudera and so on… but also, were able to arrange some very special experiences as well. Some of those experiences were a private demonstration with a Japanese sword smith, tea ceremony, already mentioned the maiko portrait session, private meeting with a monk for learning about Buddhism and to take some photos, a ninja experience and more! Check out a few of my favorite photos of the family and cherry blossoms from the trip. More photos from our tour of Japan coming soon!