Hanami (flower-sightseeing party) with colorful bento boxes, cherry blossom mochi, cherry blossom tea,...spread in front of the youngsters. Everyone wowed with excitement. This experience was so real that it was more wonderful than in the imagination of the overseas students before going to Japan.

When I was just a freshman, the no.1 on my to-do list had always been to see cherry blossoms - the symbol of Japan - right in Japan.

However, man proposes, but God disposes. The cherry blossoms bloomed right on the traditional Tet holiday in Vietnam that year's spring, so we had to go back to our home country for Tet with regrets. Everyone felt pity for our planned flower trip. When we got back to Japan, it was already the end of spring. We could only see Chinese wisteria, phlox, or azalea. Fukuoka at that time was left with only spindly branches, and the cherry blossoms had all fallen.

We couldn't give up. We planned a journey in search of cherry blossoms

Since dawn, we made bento together. The most simple bento boxes and fresh fruits, and bottled water was our luggage for today. First, the gang caught the bus departing from the city center to the campus. The road to the campus was so beautiful, one side was the mountain, and the other faced the sea.

On the way, all of us fixed our gazes at the glass windows to see any cherry blossom trees left on the road to the campus. It was a pity that there were no more flowers.

After that, we went to one of the parks in the city, even down to Beppu Eki, went along the big and small roads, got to the biggest park of the city, which was Beppu Koen, but there were only a few trees, trying to hold back the last petals at the end of spring.

The ground was carpeted with the fallen pink cherry blossoms. We took photos with the flower carpet together, and it was so beautiful and fun.

Luck smiled on us

But that was still not enough. We were informed by a classmate that in Oita City, at the Oita Eki area, going straight to near the Oita Prefectural Art Museum (OPAM), there was an area where cherry blossoms were still blooming. We immediately got on the bus back to Beppu Eki, bought train tickets for around 250 yen/pax/one way, going from Beppu to Oita.

The train only took us 15 minutes, but we were so burning, excited to see a wood of cherry blossoms. From Oita Station to Opam, we had to go through a walking street. It was so hustling and bustling there. I will review more about this walking street in the following article!

We hadn't got to OPAM yet, but the images of the rouge pink cherry blossoms had already dotted in the sky. Striking yet elegant cherry blossoms brought the visitors an indescribable peace.

We were delighted that the journey ended as expected. The area was still crowded with Oita residence and tourists. Perhaps all of them, too, wanted to see cherry blossoms until the last one had fallen on the ground. Our bento had gotten cold, but each of us was very pleased.

Later, the upperclassmen at Beppu told us that cherry blossoms bloomed gradually from the South to the North. That's why the Japanese had a saying: "When tracking cherry blossoms, we have the chance to come across the past, see what has happened, meet what has lost".

I hope that later, our journeys in search of cherry blossoms will be even further to enjoy the blooming season from the Southern to the Northern part of the Land of the Rising Sun.