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Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) and Hanami

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In Japanese the cherry blossoms are called "Sakura." Oh my, pictures cannot do these trees justice! It is absolutely breathtaking! They only bloom for about 10 days before the petals start to fall and it looks like it's snowing! We went with our neighbors in to Tokyo to the Yasukuni shrine.  The 'official' cherry blossom tree is here that they use to declare that the trees in Tokyo are in full bloom.  The grounds of the shrine are stunning! Mum bought a fortune for 100Y and tied it up with the others.  She bought a few good luck charms for souvenirs as well. After walking around the Yasukuni shrine, we attempted to find a place to have lunch.  It was the first weekend of Sakura in Tokyo though, so we couldn't find any place with availability.  I suggested we hit up a grocery store and have a picnic, or "Hanami" as the Japanese call it. Hanami is only when you have a picnic under the cherry blossoms. It ended up being the perfect lunch! So much fun an...
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Fushimi Inari

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See, I told you I'd continue! Our second day we got up early and had toast! Mum was hoping the coffee came with free refills, but no such luck.  I'd heard we should get to Fushimi Inari early in order to avoid the crowds, so we packed up our stuff and left it in the luggage room at the ryokan. Then we jumped on the train.  When we got to our stop, it was a little later than I'd hoped to get there. There were a good number of people, but not overwhelming crowds.  Phew! Street vendors were just starting to get their booths prepped.  We looked around the base area of Fushimi Inari and then started our hike to the top.  I hadn't researched too much about it, I'd just heard there were a lot of stairs.  Yes, there were A LOT of stairs! So glad I don't ever bother with a stroller here, it would've been impossible here if we had one. Fushimi Inari is famous for the thousands of Tori gates that lead to the top. Generally a shrine will just have one or two. We took...
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