As I mentioned on my post (about Spring Feast) before that sakura in Okinawa is a bit different than the one in mainland Japan. My (Japanese) friend said that they are actually 2 different species which is why they're kinda different but other than the color, I think they're pretty similar though 
(or is it just me? lol).
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| Sakura in mainland Japan |
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Sakura in Okinawa
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The second picture was taken by me without any edtiting. For the comparison, I got the first picture from google. They're slightly different aren't they? Mainly the color is a bit different, (maybe) especially when you look at it from a far.
For my first hanami, well it's not my first time seeing cherry blossom honestly, I went to the north part of Okinawa, a city called Nago. It took about 2 hours to get there from Nishihara (the city where I live). That area is popular during the sakura season here in Okinawa. They held a cherry blossom festival in Yaedake Cherry Forest Park (さくらの もり). Unfortunately, when we went there, there wasn't many (typical matsuri) sellers there BUT there's a sakura-flavored-ice cream seller then I decided to get one for 500 yen (YES, quite expensive if you convert it to IDR). I think in matsuri all the food's price will be around JPY 500 cause I came to some different matsuri and ended up bought takoyaki, shaved ice, yakisoba, and some other foods for JPY 500 each!
Anyway, in Yaedake Cherry Forest Park, the cherry trees were lining up on the side of the road to the top of Mt. Yae, so you can see the trees along the way. We went all the way to the top then went back down the road to look for a parking lot. We got off the car and strolling around the area and it was so pretty~ 
I can't get enough of it! We're not sure though either the time we were visiting was the best time (I don't think so) or not, so better check it first before you go. We went there on February 12th 2016 and I had a flight to Sapporo on the next day so I'm grateful enough to have a chance to see Okinawan cherry blossom 
We're quite busy the days before with exams and stuffs cause it's the end of the Fall Semester, well at least Yuuki might be busier than us, exchange students (or me).
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We then went to Kourijima (Kouri Island), which is actually a small island belong to Okinawa mainland (if I'm not mistaken 
) so we can reach the Kourijima by crossing the bridge. And that's one of the things that I like about Okinawa, yeah the bridge that separating the islands, it's another pretty landmark of Okinawa! I love going to cross the bridge a lot! The scenery along the way is just.. again pretty! If only I have a drone I'm gonna post the picture or video of it here but you can google it anyway, just wanna have my own above-point-of-view footage 
. Got some footages of the bridge, I tried to upload the video but it's oversize so please bear with only the pictures I took. I was recording when crossing the bridge so couldn't manage to snap the view.
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| The bridge (1) |
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| The bridge (2) |
We didn't really explore the island itself, not even stop at the (famous) Kouri Beach or the other two beaches there. And recently I plan to explore Okinawa more before I go back then found some pretty instagram pictures of Kourijima and I just can't denied that I need to go there one more time! Will definitely updated soon after~ 
POSTED BY Egi ON Tuesday, June 14, 2016 @ 15:32
