Spring in Japan: Living in a fairytale of sakura

Spring in Japan

It’s been a week since we have arrived from our spring in Japan adventures, and we are ready to start sharing our pictures with all of you. Hope you enjoy travelling with us to our favorite place in the earth, starting, of course, with the pride of spring: Sakura!

Although we met our first sakura tree in Tokyo while walking from Shibuya to Harajuku (on the very same day we landed), when I think about sakura Miyajima comes to my mind the most because it was a true magical experience. Being just in the middle of all the flowers & having deers around us felt like it even wasn’t real, more of a living fairytale or a movie stage. I challenged Giselle from Enchanted and was tempted to start singing, but don’t worry here are only the images, you won’t have to suffer my attack of Disney getting to my head *wink*

Outfit details

I bought this dress from Zara a while ago with Miyajima in mind (it’s from last season, so not available anymore to add a link, sorry!). I like that it has a certain kimono vibe, but still being a piece of clothing I could wear everywhere. I’ve been hesitant to hire a kimono in Japan, but I finally always desist because I think I would not be able to pull it off the way it deserves. How do you feel about foreign people wearing kimono?

The weather in Japan was colder than I had anticipated, but nothing that a thermal underneath t-shirt from Uniqlo & thick tights can’t solve. In fact, you may be able to notice the t-shirt in one of the pics, ha! Also, we had sun & better temperatures in Miyajima than in almost any other place during our route, so I was perfectly fine with the dress & had only to add a sweater during the evening.

The shoes are my beloved Disney Toms with Cinderella original drawings. You will see them a lot during this trip!

In case you are wondering, this sakura photo session wasn’t planned at all.

When we arrived to Miyajima, after settling in at our hotel (called very appropriately Sakuraya), we started walking towards the most famous landmark, the torii & the Itsukushima shrine. Our ferry docked at 14:30, if you have been to Miyajima before you will know this isn’t he best hour of the day to find a deserted island. Thus, after discovering that the shrine opens at 6:30 in the morning we decided to leave our visit to the next morning and go further into the island to run away from the tourists. Momijidani Park is specially famous during autumn for its beautiful fall folliage, so it was very unexpected to find this cherry tree goodness when climbing up a few stairs.

It was also very interesting to learn that the behaviour of deers is very different from the ones that walk among the streets of Miyajima, the ones in the park were much easily frightened and shy. The bold ones get to ask snacks to tourists (have you watched our stories with the scared kiddo with the ice-cream? ha!), but if I was a deer I would definitely be part of the park pack.

Have you ever experienced sakura in Japan? Where was your favorite spot? In Spain, near my mom hometown there’s also an area I would like to visit one spring called “El Jerte” and I know there are other places like Washington or (near) Paris with beautiful cherry blossom trees areas, have you been there?

I know I HAVE to print one photo to put in our (much anticipated) wall art, so I need your help, which one would you print from this lot?