Sea Change Okinawa: My cherry blossom obsession

It's a pretty well known fact that i'm obsessed with cherry blossoms (sakura さくら in Japanese). I think it started when I was first living in Japan about 10 years ago and my mum came to visit during cherry blossom season. We followed the blossoms from Tokyo, down to Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. I was even lucky enough to have a cherry blossom tree in the backyard at my last house in Melbourne, and I was obsessed with it! Now that I'm living in Japan again, this time in Okinawa, my cherry blossom obsession has come back in full force. Last year we were lucky enough to go to Kyoto for full bloom and this past January we went in search of the Okinawa cherry blossoms at Nakijin Castle ruins. I even took a million photos of the blossoms on the few trees in my neighbourhood.

Another great part about the cherry blossom season in Japan (which is just about to start on the mainland) is all the limited edition cherry blossom items. Different beers have limited edition cans, Starbucks has a sakura latte, sakura flavoured ice creams come out as well as chocolates and other snacks! Pepsi even has a sakura flavour this year (it's not that great.... I tried it). Japan really makes the most of the short cherry blossom season!

The most awesome thing I have found this year though is the cherry blossom range of Nike shoes available! As soon as I saw them, I knew I must have them! I even bought a pair for my mum, who is equally as obsessed with Cherry blossoms as I am. At the moment i'm torn between preseving their pristine condition and wearing them constantly because I just love them!

Next week i'm off to Tokyo for a few days, and am hoping to catch the beginning of the bloom up there and take part in some hanami (cherry blossom viewing) in Ueno Park. No doubt I will also sample a decent amount of cherry blossom themed products because I just can't resist. No doubt you can expect more cherry blossom posts in the near future.