Every April, the Northern part of Japan wears a signature pink coat made of sakura. As a tradition, the Vietnamese students association went to hanami (flower viewing) every year. This year is not an exception. Although the pandemic was still out there, we managed to organize one Hanami event, with many members attending. Herein, we would like to share our unforgettable experience there.
The destination we chose this year was Hitome Senbonzakura. It is a famous site-seeing for Hanami both for Japanese and international students. We started at 9 am from Sendai station and arrived there early.
After entering the park, we quickly reached the main viewing area. Here, we could easily see the Buddha statue which overlapped with the giant field of flowers. I heard that if we made a wish under the statue, it might come true. I simply wished to overcome my “single” status. Well, I hope it would become a reality this year :)
We then moved to another spectacle. It has a famous walking road filled with white-ish pink sakura, a “must-watch” train track running along a crystal-clear river, and a faraway mountain with a snowy topping (some members insisted that it was the Fuji-san, which was not, of course, they might be too obsessed with the legendary mountain). This combo was a great combination to enjoy when you sit down and chill after a long walk. It should be no surprise that a lot of artists must have made their pieces while enjoying this scene (a landscape painting or songs, perhaps). In fact, we spent most of our time there.
Of course, we did not forget to take a selfie with this view.
Site-seeing must always go hand in hand with camping. We settled down near a riverbank after having walked several kilometers.
We took a lot of photos and videos with very funny moments.
Roly-poly.
After a long trip, we recharged our battery with food before coming back. Since no one was picky, we quickly decided to have lunch at a Tonkatsu restaurant (fried pork cutlet) nearby. It was pretty good.
Finally, we called it a day with a small party with “lẩu” – Vietnamese hotpot. Do you find it yummy?
In a nutshell, the sakura blossoms at Hitome Senbonzakura were undeniably breathtaking, albeit ephemeral (they ended shortly after). Returning back home that day, I learned a lesson that youth comes only once in a lifetime, so I (and probably you) should live life to the fullest.
If you have a plan, do it now or it will never be done.
Sorry for the didactic (:p), I wish everybody has a great experience in the upcoming future.
VSA TOHOKU 