JP 2018 April Sakura Hirosaki

After 2 days in Morioka, we headed to Aomori and stayed there for another 2 days.  Took about 2 hours to reach Hirosaki with a connection in Shin-Aomori.  The local train was very crowded and we had to stand for about 30min.  Outside the station, a temporary express bus took visitors direct to the Hirosaki Castle in about 15min.  Though we took the first Hayabusa Shinkansen train leaving Morioka before 9am, we arrived at Hirosaki Castle at around 11:30.

 

Hirosaki Castle

It was a sunny day with temperature at high teens. Sakura was again in full bloom in this top 100 sakura spot while the outer moat was covered in sakura petals !  Only then we noticed we were lucky to visit Hirosaki Castle on its 100th Sakura festival 🙂

We crossed the outer moat into the garden area, which was huge and planted with various varieties of sakura trees.  It was crowded even on Friday.  As we had been to other top 100 sakura spots in the last few days, we picked the historical sakura trees, such as the Otakizakura (big waterfall) to focus. There were plenty of food stalls selling cooked food, snacks and drinks.   Took a break and had a quick yaki-udon bento.

Entrance fee was required in order to enter into the Honmaru area – where the Hirosaki castle was relocated few years ago for renovation.  Lined up for about 20min to enter the small castle.  Nice views of distant Mt Iwaki and sakura up there.  Left around 3pm.

 

===>  Aomori   ====>

 

 

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