Japan — spring 2026

17 photos · Read the trip report

The three of us posed against a big cherry trunk on a hillside above town, Mount Fuji snow-capped and clear in the gap behind us. Charlie in the middle wearing a white t-shirt that reads "Mt. Fuji 3,776" with the mountain itself directly over his shoulder. Bright, hazy, blue sky; the tree is still bare buds, no blossom out yet at this altitude. Dasha standing and Charlie sitting on a stone retaining wall below the vermilion pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, both in yellow raincoats, blossom at full peak filling the whole top of the frame. Overcast, wet, petals on the stone. A stone lantern in the foreground carries the Kiyomizu-dera gate association name and Kiyomizu-zaka, which is how the temple is identifiable from the frame alone. Charlie and Dasha on a wooden canal bridge under a full cherry canopy in the rain, both in yellow raincoats, Charlie with his hood up and his arms on the railing, Dasha holding a clear umbrella. A second blue umbrella and another walker just behind them. Blossom at absolute peak, overcast, everything wet. Dasha and Charlie leaning back against the trunk of an old cherry, shot from ground level looking up the stone-paved avenue. A line of red paper lanterns on poles runs off into the distance under trees in full blossom, clear blue sky. Dasha in a patterned haori over a white tee, Charlie in a black graphic tee and a white headband, cargo trousers, arms crossed. All three of us on the stone street in Shibu Onsen at night, in the ryokan yukata with striped haori over them and geta with white tabi socks. Charlie in front holding a lit orange paper lantern and a red something in his other hand. Wet cobbles, wooden eaves overhead, hanging lanterns and a few other guests further up the street.
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