April/6/2019
There’s a tunnel of cherry blossoms(sakura), which appears once a year along the Asuwa River in Fukui City. I personally call it the Asuwa Sakura Tunnel. It’s about 2.2 km long and there are about 600 cherry trees. The Asuwa River has been selected as one of Japan’s 100 best spots for viewing cherry blossoms. A lot of people come and see them every spring.
The cherry blossoms of Asuwa River are about a 10-minute walk from Fukui Station. From there, Asuwa Shrine, where you can see a 370-year-old weeping cherry tree, is about another 10-minute walk. I’ve written about this weeping cherry tree before, so please read my previous post(A 370-year-old weeping cherry tree in Asuwa Shrine). I recommend that you see both the cherry blossoms of Asuwa River and the 370-year-old weeping cherry tree at the same time.
The cherry blossoms bloom for about two weeks, but you can only see them in full bloom for a few days. Please check the cherry blossom forecasts and weather reports before coming to Fukui. This is the cherry blossom forecast in English. (Usually, you can enjoy seeing the cherry blossoms of Asuwa River the best from late March to mid-April.)
Today, the weather was fine and the cherry blossoms of the Asuwa River were in full bloom. There were a lot of street stalls along the river selling baby castella, French fries, fried chicken, crepes, and so on. I saw a lot of people, including some foreigners, especially from Asian countries.
Some people bought food at the street stalls and some people walked through the Asuwa Sakura Tunnel. Walking through the tunnel, they talked, ate, and took pictures. When I walked through the tunnel, I realized that it was more fun to walk through it with a lot of people than to walk alone.
How long does it take people to walk through this tunnel?
It took me about 25 minutes to walk through the tunnel. It’s a luxurious experience to walk under cherry blossoms for 25 minutes.
That night, I went back to see the cherry blossoms. They’re lit up during the cherry blossom season, so you can see them at night. In addition, the colors of the lights change gradually. There were more people at night than during the daytime. Some visitors said, “Look at all the people!” I don’t know the exact number, but I estimated that there were more than 1,000 people.
I walked through the tunnel again. I felt like I were in an amusement park.
Why don’t you come and experience the tunnel of cherry blossoms, too?