mm, we won't really have time to fit it in logistically - only a week or so there with 2 kids and already hakone and kyoto..I was originally planning to go north just for the blossoms but realised it was a little excessive especially as theres every chance i would still have missed them! oh well, hopefully another time...thanks

Just FYI:

Nara last week.



And Kanazawa last week.

That is the least easy access....
They are so beautiful; the citizens miss them a lot; they wish they went and see; they can't; they have to abandon their city.
Very sad.

No, in the 21st century, you cannot miss cherry blossoms in famous cherry places. In Japan we have many accurate cherry blossoms forecast websites and now we have the power of twitter. Many people tweet real time report. These help us a lot. Plus the blossoms keep at least one week and the forum members will help you decipher Japanese language.

It is forecast that in Hakodate, Hokkaido cherries will be in full bloom on May 9. Thanks to the extension of the Tohoku Shinkansen lines to Shin-Aomori, Hakodate is now closer to Tokyo. Copy and paste "五稜郭　サクラ" and try google image search.

Thank you. Beautiful. Though they are not in Kanto. abmj-jr, "jr" looks like your initials. I thought it was Japan Rail.

You are correct, my initials.

And I thought he was junior.