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Cherry blossom season is over in Nagano. I think anywhere in Japan is beautiful when cherry blossoms are in flower.
This April I went to see the cherry blossoms in Misato. There are many cherry trees all along the banks of Kurosawa River. You can see a long array of the trees there. The banks of the river are not made of concrete and a lot of the trees have many flowers which was voluminous. Compared with the other areas, it is quite rustic, but tasteful. If the weather is fine, you can see the Northern Alps from the place. I thought the place was a good unknown place, but I saw some cars from other prefectures which is amazing. It takes about forty minutes to walk all along the trees. The time for cherry blossoms at their best is later than Matsumoto. It may be nice to see them after Matsumoto and then you will feel satisfied after seeing them in Misato. I can imagine that farmers must have enjoyed Hanami parties there in former times.
After I saw them, I went to an icecream shop called Misato Milk. They offer tasty ice cream cones which are famous in this area. I had two types of icecream which were Japanese orange called Buntan and corn. Buntan was refreshing and a bit bitter. Corn tasted very creamy. Cherry blossoms are like snow when they are in full bloom. They look soft and fluffy when you see them from a distance. Cherry blossom season is too short. It’s about one week. A lot of people are really looking forward to seeing them next season again, because one of the reasons is the season is very short.