Chubu in Spring

The embankments of the 新境川 (Shinsakai River) in Kakamigahara City in Gifu Prefecture carry one of the longest cherry corridors in the Tokai region, with more than 1,000 Somei Yoshino lining both banks and volunteers extending the planting year by year along around 13 km of the river. The trees are known locally as 百十郎桜 (Hyakujuro Zakura) after 市川百十郎 (Ichikawa Hyakujuro), a kabuki actor born in the area who became one of the best known performers in the Tokai region and later toured with his own troupe. In 1931 and 1932, as the new river channel was completed, he donated 1,200 cherry trees to line it in memory of the people who had died during its construction. Almost all of the original trees were cut for firewood and charcoal during the war, and more than a thousand were replanted afterwards, which is the avenue that blooms today. It is listed among 日本さくら名所100選 (Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots). The 各務原市桜まつり (Kakamigahara City Cherry Blossom Festival), held for the 50th time from 28 March to 5 April in 2026, centres on 各務原市民公園 (Kakamigahara Civic Park) beside the river, with a stage programme, a market of local produce and ぼんぼり (bonbori / paper lantern) illumination along the banks in the evening. The red bridges over the river give the classic view, with the branches meeting above the water from both sides. Shiminkoen-mae Station on the Meitetsu Kakamigahara Line sits right beside the park, so the avenue makes an easy half day from Gifu or Nagoya. Walking the banks in early April, when the first petals start to fall onto the water, is the time to go.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城) in Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture is one of Japan's 12 surviving original castle keeps and one of only five designated National Treasures alongside Himeji, Hikone, Inuyama and Matsue, with the oldest five tiered, six storied keep in the country, built between 1593 and 1594. The castle's black exterior earned it the nickname 烏城 (Karasu-jo / Crow Castle), and the combination of the black keep, the surrounding moat, the 300 cherry trees of four varieties including Somei Yoshino and weeping cherry along the outer walls and moats in pink bloom from early to mid April, and the snow capped 北アルプス (Northern Alps) visible beyond is one of the most recognised spring images in Japan. The 国宝松本城夜桜まつり (National Treasure Matsumoto Castle Night Cherry Blossom Festival) begins 3 days after the official declaration of blooming and runs for 8 days, falling on April 2 to 9 in 2026, with the keep and the 本丸庭園 (Honmaru Garden) illuminated from 6:30pm to 9pm on weeknights and to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The 光の回廊 (Hikari no Kairo / Corridor of Light) installation along the outer moat runs for 10 days. The Honmaru Garden is open free of charge at night through the festival, with 箏 (koto), 尺八 (shakuhachi) and 雅楽 (gagaku / ancient court music) performed at the 月見櫓 (Tsukimi Yagura / Moon Viewing Turret), and a tea ceremony area and hanami dango stalls set up in the garden. JR Matsumoto Station is a 15 minute walk from the castle, around 2.5 hours from Tokyo Shinjuku Station on the JR Azusa Limited Express. Going in early April on a clear evening, when the keep and the Alps are both visible above the lit blossom, is the visit to plan for.

Around 100 families still live in the gassho-zukuri thatched farmhouses of Ogimachi (荻町) in Shirakawa-go in the Shokawa River Valley in Gifu Prefecture, with the village registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 jointly with Gokayama in neighbouring Toyama Prefecture. The gassho-zukuri style (translating as "constructed like hands in prayer") features steeply pitched thatched roofs designed to withstand the heavy winter snowfall of the Shokawa Valley, with some of the farmhouses over 250 years old and built without nails. April and May are the village's spring window, when the valley emerges from the deep snow it is best known for and 山菜 (sansai / mountain vegetables) can be foraged in the surrounding forest as the cover retreats. Cherry blossoms bloom from mid April to early May, later than in Tokyo or Kyoto, with tulips and rapeseed also flowering and koinobori carp streamers flying above the rice paddies in May, when some traditional farmhouses open their paddies to visitors for 田植え (rice planting). The Ogimachi Castle Ruins Observation Deck (荻町城跡展望台) on the hillside above the village is a 15 to 20 minute walk uphill from the village centre and gives the panoramic view across the farmhouses, the cherry blossoms, and the snow capped peaks of the sacred Mt. Hakusan range. A free shuttle bus also runs to the deck. From Takayama Nohi Bus Center the bus to Shirakawa-go takes around 50 minutes, with similar buses also running from Kanazawa in around 75 minutes.

桜えび (Sakura Ebi) are fished commercially in only one place in the world, Suruga Bay off Shizuoka, where the water drops to 2,500 metres close inshore and the shrimp rise at night. There are two seasons, spring from late March to early June and a shorter autumn one, and the fishery is run by a cooperative that pools the catch and closes it when numbers fall, which is why the volume moves so much year to year. Fresh, they are eaten raw as sashimi, translucent and sweet. Fried, they go into 桜えびのかき揚げ (Sakura Ebi Kakiage), a fritter that concentrates the flavour and is the version most people meet first. The sight worth timing a visit for is the drying. The whole catch is spread out on gravel banks along the Fuji River at Yui and Ōigawa on clear spring days, turning several hectares of riverbed pink.

ホタルイカ (Hotaru Ika) come into Toyama Bay in spring to spawn, and because the seabed shelves steeply almost to the shoreline they arrive in water shallow enough to see them in. The squid carry light producing organs along the arms and body, and a net hauled at night comes up glowing blue. Boats out of Namerikawa run before dawn viewing trips from late March to early May, and the town has a museum devoted to the animal. The eating is the other half. The squid are more strongly flavoured and briny than ordinary squid, boiled whole and dressed with 酢味噌 (sumiso), eaten as sashimi when the boat has just come in, or fried in tempura. They are small enough to eat in one, and the ink and the innards are part of it rather than something removed.

白エビ (Shiro Ebi) are almost transparent in the water and turn faintly pink once landed, which is where the local nickname, the jewel of Toyama Bay, comes from. They live in the deep trenches that run close to the Toyama shore and are fished commercially at scale nowhere else in Japan, with the season opening on 1 April and running through to late autumn, so spring is when they reappear rather than the whole of it. They are tiny and have to be peeled by hand, which is most of the reason they cost what they do. Eaten as sashimi they are clean and sweet with almost no shrimp bite to them, and 白エビ丼 (Shiro Ebi Don), a bowl of them over rice, is the dish to order in Toyama City. The tempura and kakiage versions are easier to find and the sweetness concentrates in the heat.