Japan Cherry Blossom Forecast 2027: Dates by City

Which month? In a typical year, late March to early April for Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, mid-April for Sendai, late April for Hirosaki, and early May for Sapporo.

No official 2027 forecast is out yet. The first national forecasts are expected from mid-December 2026, and this page will be updated when they arrive. Until then, the dates below are typical dates, not a forecast.

Typical dates by city (not a 2027 forecast)

These are the Japan Meteorological Agency’s normals, the average of 1991 to 2020, for the Somei-yoshino specimen tree in each city. A real year can land a week either side.

• Fukuoka: opens 22 March, full bloom 31 March.
• Tokyo: Tokyo cherry blossom dates and places for 2027; opens 24 March, full bloom 31 March.
• Kyoto: opens 26 March, full bloom 4 April.
• Osaka: opens 27 March, full bloom 4 April.
• Sendai: opens 8 April, full bloom 13 April.
• Hirosaki: no specimen tree of its own. The nearest is Aomori city, which opens 22 April and is in full bloom 26 April.
• Sapporo: opens 1 May, full bloom 6 May.

In 2026, for comparison, full bloom came on 28 March in Tokyo, 30 March in Kyoto, 3 April in Osaka and Fukuoka, 4 April in Sendai and 24 April in Sapporo, according to the Agency. Several cities ran early, which is why a typical date is a guide and not a booking date.

A normal year is a center, not a promise. The trees still open from the south toward the north. Once the Somei-yoshino trees start, the pale pink cherry planted in most city parks, the front takes a little over six weeks to reach Sapporo. Fukuoka and Kochi open around 22 March. Tokyo’s average first bloom is 24 March, and its average full bloom is 31 March. Kyoto and Osaka are full around 4 April. Sapporo’s average full bloom is 6 May. A week that is right for Tokyo is over before Hokkaido begins.

Typical full bloom by city

The pins are full bloom in a normal year for ten cities, on the Agency’s specimen tree. Darker pink is earlier. Naha is a different tree, the Higan cherry, which is why it opens in January. A park in the hills can still sit a week behind the station in the same city.

Full bloom means about 80 percent of the buds on that one tree are open. First bloom, often about a week earlier, is only five or six flowers. Best viewing, the longer window in the note on the 2026 season, starts a little before full bloom and runs into the first falling petals. A warm rain and a windy night can finish a famous park. The city list is the same normals, written from first bloom to full bloom.

Cherry blossom dates by city

• Naha: opens 16 January, full bloom 4 February. Higan cherry, not the park tree in Tokyo.
• Fukuoka: opens 22 March, full bloom 31 March.
• Kochi: opens 22 March, full bloom 30 March.
• Hiroshima: opens 25 March, full bloom 3 April.
• Tokyo: opens 24 March, full bloom 31 March.
• Nagoya: opens 24 March, full bloom 2 April.
• Kyoto: opens 26 March, full bloom 4 April.
• Osaka: opens 27 March, full bloom 4 April.
• Nara: opens 28 March, full bloom 4 April.
• Kanazawa: opens 3 April, full bloom 8 April.
• Niigata: opens 8 April, full bloom 13 April.
• Sendai: opens 8 April, full bloom 13 April.
• Aomori: opens 22 April, full bloom 26 April.
• Hakodate: opens 28 April, full bloom 2 May.
• Sapporo: opens 1 May, full bloom 6 May.

These are normals, not a 2027 forecast. From 2021 through 2026, Tokyo’s full bloom landed between 22 March and 4 April, against a normal of 31 March. Kyoto in those years landed between 24 March and 5 April. The average told you the neighborhood. The year still moved the weekend. What the 2026 cherry blossom season actually did is the latest spring we can compare.

Hirosaki Castle, the park people ride north to see, is in the same prefecture as the Aomori specimen tree, full around 26 April in a normal year. Treat the castle as that same late-April week, then confirm the park when a forecast names it. The lakes under Fuji are not one of these specimen trees. They sit higher than Tokyo and usually open later, so leave them for the first half of April and check a local note once the forecasts exist. Kushiro, on Hokkaido’s east coast, does not watch Somei-yoshino. Its specimen is a mountain cherry, and the normal full bloom there is 19 May.

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How to choose 2027 dates before the forecast

If you are choosing dates this autumn, pick the region before the week. Tokyo with Kyoto and Osaka wants the last days of March and the first days of April, on nights you can slide. Sendai wants the middle of April. Aomori and Hirosaki want the last week of April. Sapporo wants the opening days of May, which falls in Golden Week, so the trains and hotels are crowded even when the trees are on time. Naha in January is a winter trip with Higan cherries, not a picnic under Somei-yoshino.

Book the hotel on a rate you can move. A December or January forecast can still miss by several days, so the weekly notes in March are the ones worth sliding for. If the year runs early, Kyushu can be finishing as Tokyo opens, and you will not rescue the trip by adding another city. If it runs late, Tohoku and Hokkaido are still in bloom after Kansai has gone to leaf. Keep the nights in the region you most want to see.