The Beautiful Cherry Blossom Festivals in Hokkaido Japan Are Actually Back!

Japan is famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms, known as sakura 桜 in Japanese, and its amazing festivals. The cherry blossoms in Hokkaido don’t begin to bloom until the very end of April, but they are the true sign that spring has arrived. Cherry blossoms are so small and delicate that they only bloom for a few days. You usually only have one to two weeks to see them and a day or two at full bloom. Since 2020, most festivals in Japan have been cancelled, some for more than just a year or two. So I was excited to hear that a local town nearby called Urakawa was holding its Cherry Blossom Festival (sakura matsuri 桜祭り) for the first time in two years!

AERU hotel resort is seen on the right. Behind is Yushun road lined with pink cherry blossom trees in bloom. The sky is bright blue with some clouds on the left and the grass is a fresh yellow green. — You can see the bright pink cherry blossom trees lining Yushun Sakura Road behind AERU Urakawa.

Most flower festivals in Japan are usually held for about a week or more, but as this was the first one in a few years it was only held on May the 3rd and 4th this year. I’m not sure if I will be able to convey how amazing this festival was properly, but I’m going to try my best! First I’ll tell you about my experience and at the end, I’ll post details such as the location.

The Mountain Road

To get to this cherry blossom festival, I first had to drive an hour through the mountain pass. I really enjoy driving and the mountain road is really beautiful. It was really wonderful to drive past all the local farms and see the cows out in the fields enjoying the new fresh grass also. You should try to spot all the bursts of pink amongst the other mountain trees! Most other trees have yet to grow their leaves at this point, so there’s a big contrast between pink, green and brown.

The AERU stables can be seen. Behind the stables is a small mountain. Bright green and pink can be seen from trees growing their new leaves and cherry blossoms blooming. The sky is blue with some white clouds. — A mountain seen behind the AERU stables. You can see the bursts of pink from the cherry blossoms, the green from new leaves growing and the brown of the other trees.

You Can’t Miss It! Yushun Sakura Road

Luckily, due to the rows of pink lining Yushun Sakura Road to the venue, you literally can’t miss this festival! You can enjoy both driving and walking alongside these gorgeous flowering trees. The weather was really great with a stunning blue sky and it was a bit windy (but that causes another special kind of magical view).

The walkway along Yushun Sakura Road is green and brown. Lining the walkway on the right are many pink cherry blossom trees in bloom. It is spring. In the background, mountains can be seen. To the left of the walkway there are brown fences.

A black car drives on Yushun Sakura Road Urakawa. The photo is taken from the side. Green grass can be seen on the embankment and above cherry blossoms are in bloom. The sky is blue with some white clouds.

My main reason for going on the 3rd of May rather than the 4th was that you could ride an aptly named cherry picker and view the trees from above. It only cost ¥200, which is probably about $2. I was expecting it only to be an up and down kind of thing, so I was delighted when it turned out to be 10 minutes!

Josey Annaleise poses for a selfie taken in front of a blue cherry picker. The Cherry picker is in front of pink cherry blossom trees blooming. A man can be seen standing in the middle wearing a green jacket and white face mask.

A blue cherry picker has seven people up high above the cherry blossom trees. The trees are on Yushun Sakura Road Urakawa. The people in the blue cherry picker are taking photographs of the cherry blossoms. There is a man wearing a puffer jacket and hat taking a picture of the cherry picker. The sky is blue with some white clouds and the grass below is bright green.

Cherry Blossoms From Above

The view was simply breathtaking.

Josey Annaleise poses for a picture on the cherry picker. She is making the v sign with her fingers and wearing a black jacket and pink face mask. Her hair is being blown by the wind. Behind her the road below is lined with pink cherry blossom trees on both sides. A blue sky with white clouds and mountains can be seen.

Yushun Sakura Road entrance is viewed from above. Two cars can be seen driving on the road, lined with pink cherry blossom trees blooming in spring.

The operator turned us around a few times so we could all take our photographs and enjoy the view of both sides of the road. The sight of the cherry blossoms continuing along the road towards the mountains under a blue sky filled with giant fluffy clouds will forever be a highlight in my mind. If you’d like to see some videos of it, you can watch those on my Instagram here or on Youtube here.

Bright pink cherry blossom trees line Yushun Sakura Road Urakawa in spring. There are many cars driving along the road. On the left are green pastures. Mountains can be seen rising up in the background. The sky is full of grey and white clouds. — A beautiful view of the cherry blossom road and the mountains.

Horses at AERU Urakawa

Something special about this festival and its location is that the area is famous for its horses. I daresay that this is likely one of the only places in Japan you can enjoy seeing horses (and foals!), in their green pastures surrounded by cherry blossoms. I was enchanted seeing the cherry blossoms fall in the wind whilst the horses grazed peacefully. When the cherry blossom petals fall in the wind like this, it’s called sakura fubuki 桜吹雪 and it describes how the petals fall like snow. (this is the magical view I mentioned before, thank you wind! I was unable to take a good photo of this though)

Brown horse is eating grass in a pasture at AERU Urakawa. In the background, there are cherry blossom trees blooming along Yushun Sakura Road. — Chestnut brown horse grazes at AERU.

A photo taken from ground level shows a dark brown horse eating green grass at AERU Urakawa. In the background there are fences and cherry blossoms are blooming along Yushun Sakura Road. — Dark brown horse with the cherry blossoms.

The Cherry Blossom Festival

Seeing all the festival food stalls made me so happy! One, because I was hungry, and because it was a sight for sore eyes. I had really missed these and the atmosphere they create, with everyone happily eating their festival foods such as takoyaki, grilled sausages, french fries and yakisoba. The lines were a bit long but when you’re out and about in such good weather, you can’t help enjoying yourself!

A festival stand selling Prike Sausage is shown. — Sausage festival stand.

Festival stand selling soba and udon is shown. There is a blue banner in front and a green banner in front of the counter. — Sausage festival stand.

I got myself some yakisoba and french fries, or fried potato as they call it here. (I must say it, the best and ultimate name for this delectable food has and always will be hot chips!) Later on, I also ate some really yummy strawberry mochi!

Bright yellow french fried potato is shown in a bright red cardboard holder. Under the french fries is yakisoba. — French ‘fried potato’.

Yakisoba from Urakawa Sakura Matsuri. The yakisoba is in a plastic container secured with a rubber band and wooden chopsticks on top. — French ‘fried potato’.

The Cherry On Top

Get it? Cherry blossom – cherry, ahem, I should stop trying with puns! (If you have any good cherry or cherry blossoms jokes, please share them in the comments!)

There were performances. Dancing performances. I love watching dancing, and seeing the dance groups really warmed my heart! This was their first big public performance in two years and everyone danced so well! I might not know any of them personally, but seeing kids try their best at something really makes me happy! I stayed and watched two different dance groups as I was enjoying the performances so much. There were many other performances over the two days, so there really was something for everyone to enjoy. They had the most stunning outdoor stage set up with a backdrop of cherry blossom trees also!

Seven girls perform a dance on stage at the Urakawa cherry blossom festival (sakura matsuri). The stage is raised and has a red and white striped banner along the front. There is a large crowd sitting and watching the performance. Behind the dancers, there are many cherry blossom trees in bloom. The performance is at AERU Urakawa. — *Hungry Dance* group performing at Urakawa Cherry Blossom Festival.

Cherry Blossom Festival Location Details

Location: AERU Yushun Village, Urakawa, Hokkaido Japan

Dates: May 3rd and 4th 2022 (these dates may change next year)

You can check the official website for the festival here. It is in Japanese, but it can be machine-translated.

うらかわ優駿ビレッジ AERU

I hope you enjoyed reading about the festival and that you also have the chance to see some beautiful cherry blossoms, no matter where in the world you are! Make sure you read about my Jewelry Ice adventure also!