Cherry Blossoms now starting in the Southern area of Nikko, Japan.

Nikko National Park is quite large. The difference in elevation is from 200m to 2000m above sea level. This has a very large impact on the weather, temperature and these days; the (Sakura) cherry blossoms’ arrival.

Zen Hostel, over the southern edge of Nikko National Park and at an elevation of ~300m, can experience cherry blossoms a few days before tourist Nikko (The Sacred Bridge, Futarasan Shrine, Toshogu Shire, JR Nikko Station and Tobu Nikko Station) and Oku Nikko (Chuzenji Lake, Yumoto, Yunoko, Senjogahara, Odashigohara, Nantai Mountain).

Near Zen Hostel, the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom.

This is 250m south of the hostel facing north toward the hostel:

This is a famous place for parking to view the numerous cherry blossoms (桜) along Black River (黒川) about 50m south of the hostel:

Black River Sakura Parking

Here is a beautiful photograph of Black River (黒川), Cherry Blossoms (桜), and Zen Hostel together

Black River, Cherry Blossoms & Zen Hostel

We visited the Information Center in downtown yesterday and asked when they thought other parts of Nikko would get cherry blossoms. They predicted tourist Nikko would see them starting from next weekend, April 15th and 16th, 2010. For Oku Nikko they estimated around May 14th, 2010.

Although, the forecast for this coming week is for very cold weather, almost freezing!

This might delay the blossoms from emerging in Oku Nikko (Chuzenji Lake, Yumoto, Yunoko, Senjogahara, Odashigohara, Nantai Mountain) for several days.