Hi! I’m back with other out-of-season post! So actually people often ask me where is the best place to see Sakura in Tokyo. While most parks like Shinjuku Gyoen or Ueno or Yoyogi Park offer a spectacular view of sakura, actually those places are also crowded. Good news is, you don’t need to go to park to enjoy the Sakura. I work around Roppongi. This area in Minato-ku is famous entertainment district fulls of night clubs and bar where most locals and tourists gather. Roppongi is also home of many local and foreign offices such as Google and Apple. Yet, I still enjoy the Sakura in Roppongi.
Roppongi
Long time ago, I posted some night Sakura photo around Roppongi midtown. If you miss the post, you can dig it here. This time, I’m going to introduce you to Roppongi-itchoume area.
Roppongi Itchome is just around 15 minutes walk from Roppongi Midtown or Roppongi Hills. If you’re not so keen of walking, you can take the train to Roppongi Itchoume station. I work around Mori Ark Hills, and the best sakura is located around those area.
If you walk towards Izumi Garden, you’ll find a road in front of Izumi Garden residence and there, row of sakura trees will greet you. If you come early in the morning, there will be less car (pictures were taken around 7AM).
Walk along the road in front of Izumi Garden residence and you’ll get to Spain Hills (スペイン坂). I don’t know why the road is named Spain Hills, but the road is pretty too.
(The road is connected to the main road, so the area around Spain Hills is a bit crowded).
Then I walk a little bit towards Ark Hills Sengokuyama (one of TV Asahi office, just behind ANA Intercontinental Hotel). This part is a bit quiet and less people.
From there I just following the road and I reached a road called Sakurazaka (Sakura Hills 桜坂). Just like the name says, this part of road is also full of Sakura tress.
About Sakura in Roppongi
I think I enjoy the Sakura in Roppongi differently. If you go to the parks, you can sit there for hours, enjoying your food and just sit, relax, and chill. But Roppongi Itchoume is mostly a pedestrian area, you won’t be able to sit there for hours (well, yeah maybe if you can find a small parks or benches, you can sit there and enjoy your lunch).
Unlike Roppongi which has a lot of bar and clubs, Roppongi Itchoume is more like a business district. There are a lot of offices and if you go a bit late, you’ll see a lot of people and cars moving around. But Itchoume is really close to Roppongi, maybe you can go here first in the morning, and walk all the way to Roponggi Midtown. Usually Roppongi Midtown has a Sakura-themed event in Spring.
tl;dr
This area is worth-exploring if you stay around Roppongi and you’ve seen Sakura at the park many times that you want to explore other area. Best time viewing is in early morning when there’s less people. Then maybe I recommend you to go to Roppongi Midtown and explore the sakura and restaurants around those place.
For me, as I work at Roppongi Itchoume, I went there because it was so close in the office. I went super early that day that even my boss asked me “Why did you come at THAT hour?” hahaha I was the first one in the office, that I had to unlock the building by myself lol.
Slightly off topic: I work as UX designer. If you’re curious about how can I find a job in Japan, how hard it is to get an interview, and what do you need to prepare, please write down on the comment. I might write a bit about it.
Bonus: Some early plum-blossom in Musashi-Koyama. These trees blooms super early this year (I think this was taken in late March this year).
That’s all for today, have an awesome weekend!