Hi! I’m really really sorry for not updating for a while. It’s the end of the year and most Japanese companies are busy with the year-end party. So do my company. I’m going to share some of my photos earlier this year at Kumagaya Sakura Festival. I’m trying to explore new area in Japan every year because seeing sakura at the same spot every single year is a bit boring, and I also love to introduce a lot of places to you.
Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi
Kumagaya is located in Saitama Prefecture. For me who lives in Kanagawa, it takes me around 2 hours by train. I left my house early in the morning and drop by Naka-meguro to check the sakura there. Naka-meguro is really famous for sakura viewing, so if I come during the day or night, it will be really crowded. You can see my previous post here and here. This time I went early in the morning (like 7:30AM ish) and noone there.
From Naka-meguro I head to Kumagaya station. Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi is located near the river bank and it’s really close from the station (within 10 minutes walk distance). They have parking space too if you come by car.
Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi
2-33-5,Sakuragicho,Kumagaya-shi,Saitama,360-0036,Japan
Each region has different timing for Sakura. For example you can see on the pictures that the Sakura in Naka-meguro is almost gone. At the same day, I went to Kumagaya and the sakura was still there, full-bloom. Tokyo and Saitama is 1 to 2 hours train distance.
If you want to visit Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi, I suggest you to come early April.
What so special about Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi?
Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi is located at Arakawa riverbank. You can see the sakura from the top of the riverbank, or you can go walk along the sakura tunnel from the crest(?) of the river bank. I went on early April and as you can see the rapeseed flower was blooming around the same time. The yellow color from the rapeseed flowers create a beautiful contrast with the Sakura pink.
Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi is around 2-kms long and they have around 500 sakura trees. Many Japanese travel site says that this area is one of the beautiful spot to see Sakura
I went there with Eric, he’s Japanese-American and let me tell you he’s quite good at taking those photos. Eric if you’re reading this, thank you so much, I had a hard time choosing which picture to edit and show. In the end, I’ll just show everything.
How to Hanami?
Normally people will bring a waterproof sheet to sit and enjoy the flowers. You can also bring a small chair and foods. It’s a bit rare to find a trash can in a park, so I recommend you to bring a plastic bag and bring your trash back home. It’s really normal in Japan to bring your trash home.
If you go Hanami at Tokyo, it might be hard to find a space if you don’t come early. Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi is also crowded during the Sakura season, but it’s less crowded that Tokyo. You can still find a lot of personal space to sit and enjoy the scenery. You also can take a lot of photos without worrying that other people will be on your photos.
What if you don’t bring food? Don’t worry, like other Japanese festival, you’ll find a lot of food stall around the river bank. Just bear in mind that the area around food stall can be really crowded and you might need to buy the food.
tl;dr
Will I recommend the place if you want to see Sakura? Absolutely. If you’re staying at Shinjuku or Ikebukuro, this place is only 1,5hours from where you stay. It is less crowded than Ueno or Shinjuku park and you definitely will get a lot of good photos.
The downside of this place is maybe lack of public facility such as toilet. You might need to go to the station or nearest convenience store if you want to go to the toilet. But Kumagaya Sakura Tsutsumi it’s not that far from the station.
And that’s all for today post. I post a lot of pictures of myself today, I really had a hard time choosing which photos to put because they are all really pretty!
See you next time and as usual, your comment are always loved <3