The Kawazu Sakura is among the earliest blooming cherry blossom flower in Japan. These trees bloom annually in the first or second week of February in the Kanto region of Japan. They usually bloom about a week before I lead my annual Hokkaido photo tour, and on the years when I return to the Kanto at the head of March with the Hokkaido photo workshop group I am leading, I am able to lead another workshop photographing these stunning cherry blossoms, and the many birds that love slurping the sweet nectar from these cherry blossom flowers. Cherry Blossoms and Sakura are a cherry blossom flower that blooms flowers, and there are over 200 flowering trees of the genus Prunus or Prunus subg. The Sakura trees that are known worldwide do not bear edible fruit; these trees are purely hanami, ornamental cherry blossom flower trees, often confused with the trees that produce edible fruit. Today, in my backyard, I was walking around in my home region, where I checked the Kawazu cherry blossom trees, and they will be in full bloom later this week or early next week. This species of Cherry blossom does not flutter to the ground in a week, such as the Yoshino cherry blossoms that commonly flower in April do. The Kawazu Sakura can be viewed for close to a month due to the cool weather in February versus the warmer temperatures of April. And flowering beautiful trees make for some of the most stunning wildlife photo opportunities.
Another feature that distinguishes Kawazu cherry blossoms from others is the richness of their pink petals. The luxurious pink petals are also larger than the cherry blossoms that bloom during the middle phase of cherry blossom viewing, or hanami, in Japan. The cherry blossoms and backdrops throughout Japan are practically begging to be part of a Japan photo tour and your camera. In the most densely forested area, there are 8,000 sakura trees for visiting photographers to enjoy, and as your professional photography instructor based in Japan, I will take you to the most beautiful and breathtaking regions to enjoy the most photogenic of all the blossoms. Cherry Blossom Photo Tours take an amazing amount of planning because of the nature of the sakura themselves. So many factors contribute to when cherry blossoms reach 満開 (mankai) or full bloom such as regional temperatures, weather systems, plus UV radiation from the sun, all play into when the sakura will reach full bloom. Recently, weather systems have become unstable such as cold snaps or unprecedented warm weather for March and April, so selecting a specific date to view cherry blossoms during these months is tantamount to flipping a coin. It’s all chance, even if you go for best out of three. By the way, I’ve heard dozens of horror stories from friends, clients, and tour operators who were part of a dedicated cherry blossom bus viewing party, but there were no cherry blossoms. They were either too late, or the sakura hadn’t fully opened. I’ve even driven by a cherry blossom tree with two or three branches in full bloom being circled by about 100 people with cameras all fighting to take the perfect cherry blossom photo. The last time I came across this sight was in Matsumoto leading my annual Cherry Blossom photo tour, and my participants asked me, “Blain, what’s going on over there?” We stopped the convoy, and participants in the other SUVs asked me why we stopped, and I replied, “We’re taking pictures of the tourists photographing two branches of perfect cherry blossoms. It’s quite the sight.” After we drove off, an hour later, we reached my planned destination, and we were viewing dozens of full bloom cherry blossoms in the mountainside with no one around us and a Zen Buddhist temple in the backdrop. And if you’re on a cherry blossom bus tour, or you use the maps and charts supplied by local tourist organizations, and you manage to come across the perfect cherry blossom on the day you chose, make sure to go buy a lottery ticket because you’ll never be luckier. These are only some of the factors that I consider when I lead my annual April Cherry Blossom Photo Workshop and another reason why my workshop is cross-country. If the blossoms are not the best at my first location, I have a catalog of numerous other regions to visit. My years of experience mean having a backup for my backup for my Sakura Photo Tour participants so they will get that once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity of cherry blossoms while they visit Japan. And when they return home, they can hang the perfect cherry blossom print on their wall.
Kawazu Sakura and all cherry blossoms across Japan also provide birding photo ops. The Warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus), or as it is known locally, the Mejiro (メジロ), should be part of any cherry blossom birding photo workshop experience. While in the field, I equip the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR, and the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM/Sports with a 2x teleconverter, giving me 600mm at F5.6 with the Nikon Z9, Z7 Mark II, or D850 for spotting, filming, and photographing the Mejiro slurping the sweet nectar or decadent cherry blossom. I nickname Mejiros 'little ninjas' because of their lighting fast speed and acrobatic abilities; they move quickly up and down cherry blossom tree branches slurping down the nourishing sweet nectar of the cherry blossom flower just as they freshly bloom; the White-eyes are as lighting fast as a kingfisher on the move. Timing and patience is everything to view and photograph the Japanese white eye and cherry blossoms together; the Warbling White-eye is a shy bird, so I prefer to lead a small group of 2-3 birders or photographers on my annual Private Mejiro Japanese White Eye Birding Photography Tour workshop. During the Cherry Blossom season, I am able to lead around a dozen private birding tours to photograph the Japanese White Eye Mejiro Bird and other birds as they savor the sweet nectar of the Cherry Blossoms. My recommendation is to get out in the field this week or next and spot some of Japan’s most iconic blossoms and unique avifauna photo ops.