The Land of the Rising Sun - Highlights 1 (Chasing Sakura)!

Beautiful Sakuras of shades of white, pink & red at Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden 

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Made it finally to see the beautiful Sakuras! I absolutely love this shot taken by my travel companion, Alvina. I'm blessed to have friends who are good photographers who always take nice photos for me. 😊

Can't get enough of the beautiful Sakuras. It feels so surreal to see God's wonders of nature.

Feeling like in the secret garden. 

Everywhere we went, Sakuras! Chasing Sakura! 🌸🌸🌸🥰

April was a fabulous month for me as it kickstarted chasing Sakura trip at Nihon. 🌸🌸🌸 My last trip was several years ago with my family when my nephews were small. After skiing at Hokkaido, we flew to Tokyo & Osaka for a few days, basically bringing my nephews to Disneyland and Universal Studios. I didn't get to really explore and doing sightseeing. So this time round, its really like a reset, and get to know Japan again. 😊 I've always like Japan - I grew up watching Japanese dramas & listening to J-Pop. I adore the culture, language & particularly the food. Oiishi ne! 😋 

This trip was rather impromptu one and really a God-send and blessing. Coz my initial plan was to go to London to visit my friend but unfortunately, she wasn't available. I was sad but I suddenly thought to myself "It would be nice if I can go to Japan to see the Sakura". So if I can't go to Europe this year, at least I can go to Nihon to see the beautiful Sakura. I wanted to go with another friend of mine but she's not available also. How sad. But I still have the hope that I can go. And then, one of my friends suddenly messaged me & asked if I wanna go to Japan with her. I was soooo surprised! God heard my inner desires and fulfills the desires of my heart! He is amazing! 🙏😊

That was in March, so within a month's prep, we set off for our 10 day Nihon trip. We visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. My main purpose and goal was to see the beautiful Sakura which blooms at this time of this year duing Spring. People around me kept telling me that I was so lucky to see the Sakura bloom this year, coz last year it bloomed early because of global warming. Before my trip, I kept reading news that the prediction that the Sakura would bloom towards the end of March. Inside my heart, I kept praying that the Lord brings the temperature cooler and let the Sakura in full bloom during the first 2 weeks of April when I would be there. I believed that if the Lord blessed me to go to Nihon, He would definitely bless me to see the Sakura! 🌸🌸🌸🌸 He over-answered my prayer & literally everywhere we went, Sakuras! 🌸🌸🌸🌸🥰 My heart bloomed with the Sakuras. Haha! 

Coming up - Part 2 of my Nihon Trip.