2021 Opening Just around the Corner!

Hello to all of our loyal readers around the world! At a time when many of you won’t be able to visit Kamikochi due to travel restrictions, we’d like to share a few recent pictures which confirm that the situation in the park itself is the same as ever.

The still-young spring season has been an unusually warm one in mainland Japan. Tokyo experienced its earliest cherry blossom peak in over a thousand years. Where I live, in Suwa City Nagano, it’s quite a bit cooler, so the blossoms have only just passed their peak.

Kamikochi is a different kettle of fish entirely. At around 1,200m above sea level, it remains chilly well into early spring and snow can still be seen in some areas.

Despite travel restriction involving movement in and out of Japan, no delays have been announced for the usual April 17th opening this year. Those lucky enough to be based in Japan will therefore be able to visit the park from when it opens just nine days from now.

Though snow is still being cleared away in some areas, recent photos indicate that there’s less snow than in past seasons. Here we see the Hotaka Peaks reflected in The Tashiro Marsh:

As always, the photos used in this blog are courtesy of our friends at Five Sense who continue to provide sterling coverage of early spring in Kamikochi on their homepage.

That’s all for this week’s post. We’ll be back with more news about the approaching spring season later this month.

Stay safe and have a wonderful day!

Source of Information:

Nature Guide Five Sense, Kamikochi blog: https://fivesense.guide/blog/date/2021/