Tokyo in cherry blossom season

Sensory overload

I walked out of Shinjuku Station on the first day and had to stop in a corner to breathe. Giant screens, shop jingles, people crossing in every direction without ever bumping into anyone. Tokyo is at once the most chaotic and the most orderly place I have ever been.

I quickly learned the unwritten rules: queue for everything, keep quiet on the subway, take your rubbish home with you. In return, the city gives back a constant kindness — from the station worker who walked me all the way to the platform to the lady who handed me an umbrella when it started to rain.

Hanami

I arrived in the exact week the sakura peaked. In Ueno and Shinjuku Gyoen, whole families spread blue tarps under the trees and spend the day eating, drinking and looking up. I did the same, with a konbini bento and a can of iced tea.

Temples and alleys

In Asakusa, Senso-ji is beautiful early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive. At night I got lost in the alleys of Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho, with six-seat bars and yakitori skewers smoking up the air.

Fuji showed up

I booked two days in Kawaguchiko hoping for clear skies. On the first, nothing: just clouds. On the second, I woke up at five, opened the window and there it was, perfect, its snowy peak reflected in the lake. I sat on the shore for an hour without taking my eyes off it.