I love spring- when I was a child this affection was connected to spring break, my birthday and lighter clothes. I remember asking my mother- When can I start wearing short sleeves? How many degrees Celsius does it have to be? That hasn’t changed, I still love to ditch my winter clothes, but I also love longer days, scent of spring, field trips and most importantly, nature’s awakening in abundance of fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. I am literally a spring child.

This spring is special because of ours kind of an unecspected journey to Japan. Our dear friends moved to Japan last autumn, and it didn’t take us too long to respond to their kind invitations to visit them. :) Apart from admiring all of the perks of Japan, we had so much fun with them, that these few weeks just flew by!

Spring in Japan was something I dreamed of for a long time, but I never thought I was actually going to catch the magical cherry blossoms (Sakura in Japanese) in their full bloom, giving that it only lasts for about a week, until first spring rain or stronger wind blows off their tender petals.

We did book our trip according to Sakura forecast (there are Japanese sites which are giving the blossom-loving Japanese nation and enthusiastic tourists an updated insight in blossoms), but once we arrived, it seemed that the blossoms, at least cherry blossoms kept escaping us. It took some chasing through Tokio, Kanazawa, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, to finally catching the majestic grand finale of full bloom in Tokio. Our last few days in Japan were dedicated to flowers, after all, what is more Japanese than admiring cherry blossoms?

Although cherries are the leading stars of spring in Japan, we enjoyed and captured other beautiful spring blossoms aswell. We especially liked the Ume, or japanese plum with its magenta colored (Denis, I'm pointing at you ;)) flowers. We also liked the Umeshu sweet liquor, made from Ume fruits, alcohol and sugar. It reminded me of ever-popular Croatian sour cherry liquor. Now that we are in Croatia, everytime we see a tree that even resembles Japanese plum, we say: “Look at this beautiful Ume!”

This first post about Japan is dedicated to awakening of spring in all of its colors and shapes, it feels only right at the moment, when nature bursts with beauty in our part of the world aswell. I presume there will be another post about blossoms, it would be a shame not to share all of the photos we made. :)

Enjoy the spring!