Nakameguro Cherry Blossoms
As I promised in my last blog post about cherry blossom season in Japan here is an entire post about Nakameguro River. Oh how I love this place! Even if you come to Japan when it is not cherry blossom season I highly recommend coming here. It’s so beautiful even when it’s green. I love coming here so much I came twice during cherry blossom season and once again when it was over.
When you come to the river there are paths on either side of the river with shops and restaurants, which you should definitely check out! But to get the best shot of the cherry blossoms there are little bridges that cars drive on and people crowd there to take pictures and have their pictures taken.
One of my favorite things I have when I went to the river was the sakura flavored champagne with strawberries in it! It was a beautiful pink color that actually tasted good. Make sure you eat the strawberry though before you drink it all otherwise it’s really hard to get it out, take it from some who struggled to get the strawberry out at the end.
Along the river there are green vines growing down towards the water that are so beautiful! And make sure you keep walking to the end of the river because it gets less crowded at the end and it has these interesting stones lined up. I’m not sure what they are for but I like the way they look.
Also when you’re walking around the river look for ducks in the river. While I was there I saw three separate pairs of ducks in the river.
There is a man who looks like he’s homeless, and I’m not sure if he is or not, but he travels between the river and other cherry blossom parks with this cat and puts him in the trees. So I saw him at Yoyogi Park and then about a week later I saw him again here at Nakameguro. The cat is really cute and it seemed like he takes good care of him.
These are the beautiful stones I was talking about. I wish I could tell you what they’re for but I’m not sure. Oh and before I forget, people live along the river so please keep that in mind when you’re there. Sometimes it gets really loud or there is garbage left around on the ground. It made me feel bad for the people who live in that area.
This river will always have a special place in my heart. When I came to Japan I met and started dating my boyfriend. One of our first dates was coming to this river and taking pictures together while walking around and eating. He’s a wonderful photographer and took so many beautiful pictures. I personally have never liked the way I look in pictures and he has made me change my mind. I absolutely love these.
In the future when I come back to Japan I want to come to the river during cherry blossom season to take pictures together again. Whenever we come to the area around the river it warms my heart and reminds me of this date.
One thing I also highly recommend is staying till sunset and after. Around sunset and after they turn on all of these beautiful lanterns and the whole river lights up. Also one of the pictures below shows part of this cute little red bridge. It sits at the edge of the river walkway and it’s so pretty, it’s sad to me that not a lot of people walk all the way down to it.
But if you’re coming to Japan I highly recommend coming to the river. It’s cool and covered by the trees and when the wind blows the petals fall like a bit of magic in a movie.
I feel like I have thousands of photos from the days that I spent here and I love them all so choosing these ones to share was so hard. I feel like its hard to envision somewhere before you've been but I hope that you can picture what it was like to be by the river under a canopy of cherry blossoms.
