sakura walk (gotanda-shinagawa)

The Meguro River flows from Setagaya to Shinagawa then out to sea.

During the cherry blossom season, one of the most popular area to view cherry blossoms is in the Nakameguro area.

Yesterday was forecast for clouds, so I went to check out the Meguro River cherry blossoms closer to Gotanda.

If you remember, we checked out this area in December when they lit up the cherry trees in the area.

From Gotanda to the Kita Shinagawa Shopping arcade is about 50 minutes on foot.

It wasn't crowded at all and was nice to see many pre-schoolers out and about.

There are foot/car bridges in many places along the route.

It was nice to see people stop from their busy day to take a photo of the cherry blossoms.

Last year, when we were looking for a place to live, we checked out an area close to Shinbamba which is near the Meguro River and Shinagawa.

It was nice to see how the path connected to the Gotanda area.

There were many tours going up and down the river too.

In the business area of Shinagawa, it was neat to see a skywalk where you literally walk above the cherry trees.

Lunch was a falafel plate at City Bakery. Bummer that the pita and falafel were hard.as.rock.

I did eat everything but enjoyed the edamame hummus, curried root veggies, roasted carrot and hidden under the pita, a roasted sweet potato more.

This year Tokyo's cherry blossoms hit "full bloom" status 7 days early...luckily, we hit a cold snap yesterday though the high was only 8C (48F)! brr.

Hope to check out more areas in the coming days.

Have a nice weekend.

meguro river illumination

Before V left Japan, she mentioned she was trying to find the Meguro River Illumination.

During the Spring, the Meguro River is a popular area for cherry blossoms, which I think they light up too.

But, during this time of year, apparently they use pink lights to give the impression of cherry blossoms....

Click the link here to see a very short video.

It turned out that it was the Meguro River, but only in the area between Gotanda and Osaki stations.

Satoshi and I thought the amount of people were quite sparse.

They did have three igloo type huts with kotatsu (heated tables) for people to sit in...I couldn't find any info though on how someone could use them though.

I really liked this blue tree near the Osaki station.

Thanks for telling me about this V!

I'm glad we got a chance to check it out.