While our mid-March timing was a bit early, we were lucky enough to once again have the opportunity to experience the sakura or cherry blossom season in Japan. We spent a lot of time in parks that were likely to have early blossoms. Remarkably, though he had just cut our time in Malaysia short by three days due to a COVID lockdown, in Tokyo things seemed nearly normal. There was widespread mask use, but bars and restaurants were open. The hotel was fairly empty and the usual crowds that would be eating and drinking in the parks under the blossoms were absent. But on the day of a national spring holiday the cemeteries did fill with families paying respects to their ancestors and a trendy shopping area was quite busy. This Brown-eared bulbul in Shinjuku Gyoen has a bill caked with pollen from the blossoms it was busy tumbling around in.
