Saitama Exploring ♡ 芝桜

Any of you who have been following me for a while / know me in any form will know how much I love all things floral / pink related, so when I discovered Shibazakura (floor moss sakura) I always dreamed of being able to go visit some! Last week I took the trip to Chichibu in rural Saitama to do just that, it was a super cute outing on a local train full of elderly japanese with their little bento boxes, and it went straight through so much nature and mountains. On arrival I got totally lost, but eventually made it to the area where the beautiful fields of pink were waiting, and seriously I couldn't cope, nature can just be so overwhelmingly beautiful in Japan at times, I sat here with some local foods from the market alongside (they had a sort of short term festival) - and it involved vegan friendly things, so I was pretty happy! Heres a little glimpse of the pinky-goodness...

Lots of love x x x x

Part 2 : Further Cherry Blossom wanderings ♡

Shinjuku Goen has to be a feature on my cherry blossom exploring, there are so many types of trees there that even if you go a little bit before or after season there are always so many beautiful flowers to see, this year I timed it just right going a little after the main rush, so many flowers were falling and the late blooming types like the little ball blossom you see below were just starting to fall. I even managed to find a cute little juice bar with a vegan sandwich option super close so was able to take my diary & sketchbook and have a little picnic in the sunshine. I love the constant in places like this of the nature against the harsh grey skies of Tokyo architecture..

Yummy dinner at Commune Omotesando after blossom viewing, fried soy & brown rice veggie plate..

Inokashira Koen, I only made a brief little trip but definitely worth it, its always a good park to go by yourself and wander around in..

Kudanshita..this place literally blew my mind, the amount of blossoms here were seriously insane, my lovely friend was visiting from Kyoto and we wanted to try something different so checked this place out, the blooms stretch all around the edge of the Imperial Palace and I`ve heard at night they light up, sort of overlapping each other like some magical tunnel, if I`m here again in blossom season I will definitely make a trip back!

Finally our biggest hanami day was in a super local area of Nagano, avoiding the weekend crowds we took to a few cheeky street drinks and joined in a local hanami festival. Here is one of my absolute favourite Japanese snacks, which I managed to score from a super local vendor - `Sakura mochi`, salty sakura leaf and yummy azuki beans inside mmm..

Apparently this is the longest stretch of straight cherry blossoms in Tokyo, going all through Nakano..

Lots of love x x x x

Sakura dreams 桜の花 ♡

My absolute favourite time of year in Japan these past few weeks have been a super beautiful sea of pink once more, we managed a few hanami`s and a wonder a few weeks back in one of my favourite spots to see Sakura - Shinjuku Goen, there are so many types of sakura here and each is so magical looking, anyway here`s a few of my favourite snaps, Hope your all having lovely spring`s! Lots of love x x x x ♡

Asakusa / 浅草 ♡

So last week I visited Asakusa 浅草 for the first time with my friend Nat who was visiting from England. It's like a world apart from the main areas of Tokyo, and a step back into beautiful Japanese history. The area was absolutely bustling full of tourists and quite difficult to move (usually the kind of place I would avoid!), but the shrines were so so beautiful, and there was still some blossom blooming - a different kind to the main season - a much deeper pink, and contrasting against the red shrines glimmering in the sunlight, it all looked very pretty! I tried traditional Japanese dango (rice cakes coated in sticky soy sauce) and enjoyed exploring lots ♡

Hope your all having happy weeks! Lots of love xxxxx

Kichijoji Blossom Wanderings ♡

So on Monday we headed to Kichijoji's beautiful Inokashira Park to visit the Ghibli Museum (more about that later), and had our first Sakura spotting!! - The tree's are beyond beautiful, there were about 3 or 4 in full bloom - can't wait until they're all out! It was a sea of dreamy pinkness (you can imagine my excitement!) Here a few snaps from our wanderings ♡

Delicious Sakura Tea! 

Lots of Love x x x x

Higashi Matsubara Wanderings ♡

So on one of my days off this week, I had a wander around my neighbourhood backstreets to Shimokitazawa, I still can't get over the beautiful nature of the buildings and plants and flowers, I can't wait to see them in different seasons! In the cold wintery-ness of the day - just after snow day, the air was really really chilly, and everything was bare, but the shapes and colours just so pretty - so inspiring! Hope you like!  

Lots of love! x x x