Kyu Nakagawa's Kawazu Cherry Blossoms

This was my destination when I was walking around a peaceful neighborhood on the northeast part of Tokyo: Kyu Nakagawa (旧中川) or Former Naka River. There's not much noise about this place so how come I've come to know of this place?

Actually I just stumbled this by accident. As I was browsing for places in Tokyo where to see the plum blossoms (yes, plum blossoms not cherry blossoms!), I found this park where one could enjoy Kawazu Sakura, which blooms earlier than the usual cherry blossoms. I'm not really a fan of the touristy places and I'm sure there will be full of people in those places. As much as I can, I'd like to avoid the crowd to enjoy the flowers that I've been wanting to see in peace.

I was hoping to spend my afternoon break in the park, with the cherry blossoms in sight and with the river. When I lived in Osaka, there's this place I go to in my afternoon weekends, enjoying the view, reading a book or just reflecting - and yes, that place was a riverside. In the place where I live now, it's a bit far to enjoy the cool breeze of the river. So I was really hoping for that here in Kyu Naka River.

When I arrived in the park, I was surprised there were many people than what I expected. Some were laying down their mats under the cherry blossoms and enjoying hanami with their company which is the usual and I approve of (I'm in no condition to approve or reject though LOL). I even saw lovers having a sweet moment under the cherry blossoms. WOW! Excuse to single people. 😅

But more than 50% of the people there came for pictorials. What?! I was surprised that these people came for their photos taken with the cherry blossoms as background. I mean it's understandable but I also kinda hope they would enjoy the scenery than taking selfies.

Well, I'm not really in a position to rant either because I was also holding my phone in hand taking a photo of the cherry blossoms. Ahihi.

It was hard to take a decent photo of the fascinating cherry blossoms because I was still not used to my camera settings. I didn't really play around with it that much when I got this. This was practice. Practice after a month of usage. 😅

Did I mention this park has a view of Tokyo Skytree in the distance? Look, this tower's photobombing my cherry blossoms photos.

Eventually I got tired of the cherry blossoms area because of the crowd. I also didn't have a mat with me so staying under these trees was a no.

I found benches by the river and that's where I stayed for a while. Luckily there was a vacant bench so I was just sitting there and had my sunbathing. No worries, even when the sun was on my face, I didn’t get burnt. 😅

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Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！

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With love,

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^{All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.}