Tokyo, Japan: Meguro River

Spring is in full swing

As love floats gently, in

Upon refreshing, enthusiastically warming

Southerly breezes.

How would you describe spring? Would you write about spring's pretty flowers, green trees and lovely fields? or describe the season’s budding flowers, verdant trees and flourishing fields instead?

Spring is all about new beginnings and transformations; it's a season that symbolizes starting fresh and starting over. After months of cold temperatures that often result in many of us feeling the winter blues, spring reawakens us and our surrounding environment, bringing everything back to life.

Cherry blossoms are a symbolic flower of the spring, a time of renewal, and the fleeting nature of life. Their life is very short. After their beauty peaks around two weeks, the blossoms start to fall.

During this season in Japan, people like to have cherry blossom parties with colleagues, friends, and family

With the smells of fresh grass and flowers in the air, spring may be the most aromatic season of all.

Meguro River (目黒川) is one of the most popular places to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo. It’s located in Nakameguro area which is near Shibuya, central of Tokyo. The best highlight of Meguro River Cherry Blossoms is over 800 cherry trees lined for about 4 km along the river which displays the spectacular view.

During the main season for cherry blossoms, a cherry blossom festival is held near the river and there will be a lot of stalls selling food and drinks. There are also many cafes and restaurants along the river and some of them have terrace seats where you can enjoy delicious food with the cherry blossoms views. Cherry blossoms at Meguro River can be enjoyed at day and night as the light-up of the cherry blossoms is available till 9 pm during the season.

Meguro River’s cherry blossoms are also recommended to see after the peak season. After the cherry blossoms reach the full bloom, countless pink petals are blown by the wind, fall down and cover the surface of the river, creating an astonishing scenery.

Much of the Meguro Riverside area provides pleasant walking and a mellow atmosphere that marks a contrast to the capital's urban buzz. The stretch between Nakameguro and Gotanda Stations is renowned for its pretty greenery and easy access to the hip Nakameguro neighborhood with its many restaurants and bars.

Just beside the river, the Meguro Museum of Art focuses on modern Japanese artists and is worth checking out if you get caught in the rain. So is the quirky, squirmy Tokyo Parasite Museum just a couple blocks from the river. The gift shop alone is worth a look.

Further downstream at the edge of Tokyo Bay, Tennozu Isle offers galleries, chic cafes, and waterside dining, including at T.Y. Harbor, a popular brewery restaurant.

The Meguro River is also one of Tokyo's premier cherry blossom viewing spots. Over a kilometer of trees lining the paths on either side of the river in Nakameguro burst into bloom at the end of March and beginning of April, forming a corridor of flower clouds above the river.

When the sun goes down, the paper lanterns strung along the river come on during the Nakameguro Sakura Festival when bands of locals celebrate spring with feasting and drinking on blue tarps beneath the blossoms. Grab a beer from one of the street stalls and bask in the glow of Japan at its most laid back.

Wintertime has its own charm when a stretch of the river near Gotanda Station comes alive with an impressive holiday lights display.

This is the Japanese character for sakura. The 木 (ki) on the left side means tree/wood and developed from a pictogram of a tree, with the horizontal line as branches and diagonal lines as roots. Sakura is derived from saku 咲, which means to bloom, or alternately to smile/laugh. The 口 in 咲 indicates an open mouth.

花 (hana) means “flower,” and 見 (mi), means “to view.” Together, hanami literally means “to view flowers.” 見 is a combination of the characters for “eye” and “human,” evolving from a pictogram of a human figure with two legs and a large eyeball for a head.

These characters (yozakura) mean viewing cherry blossom at night. 夜 (yo) means night, and 桜 (zakura) is the same as sakura.

In the quietness of the dawn,

There is silence across the lawn,

The lonely Cherry Blossom tree,

Lets the last of the flowers free,

Like a simple tear is wept,

The memory of blossoms are swep.