Wakayama Castle

After checking into my hotel near Wakayama Station, I took a 30 minute walk to Wakayama Castle to do some night sakura viewing.

The sakura was near full bloom, but the hanami festivities were pretty tame and low-key. At least in comparison with the last time I was in Japan for sakura. That was in Kyoto in 2007 and the noise, activity, and crowds were almost overwhelming. I'm not sure if the difference is the city or a change caused by COVID.

There were a lot of food vendors but no lines and I enjoyed takoyaki and fried noodles.Read more