First and possibly last chance this year!

Could be, anyway. Yesterday was perfect hanami (flower-viewing) weather, and today...isn't. It's grey, windy and cold. I moved to Japan from Britain to get away from weather like this. Oh well. Here are some more pictures cherry-blossom related and possibly some which are not. And some blue skies. I'd save these pictures to your hard drive; they might end up being the only "cherry blossom with blue skies" shots from the entirety of 2013 given the way the weather's behaving now.

No, your monitor is not faulty, that is actually blue sky. Please do not panic.

This (below) is Tsuruma Park in Nagoya, probably the most popular place to view the blossoms in the city. It was quite packed out yesterday becuse a) it was, as I said, a great day to see the flowers, and b) Piano Jac were playing live, and we went to see them. This is the second time, and like the first time it was a great performance but it was too long.  It clocked in at nearly three hours and while these guys are absolutely superb musicians and highly entertaining, three hours is a long time. I'd have been more than happy with two. 

The cherry blossoms don't always have to be the main focal point of the picture; they can also do a good job in the background as these last two pictures demonstrate.

I couldn't resist this. The shape is just too creepy / cool. 

In the unlikely event of there being another decent day for this, I'll try and get out and shoot some more. But this is, so far, the one time when the weather's been suitable.

Thanks for looking!