On April 28th at Hirosaki Park, "Hanaikada," with scattered cherry blossom petals floating on the water, was in full bloom, and many tourists were pointing their cameras.

Hirosaki Park is said to be one of Japan's three most famous spots for cherry blossoms, and because it overlaps with Golden Week, about 2 million tourists visit each year. This year, the blossoming of Yoshino cherry trees was declared on April 20, and the "Hirosaki Sakura Festival" will open from 21st. On the 23rd, the park and the outer moat were in full bloom.

A flower raft is a seasonal word that resembles a stream of petals floating on the surface of the water. Also known as "Sakura no carpet" or "pink soup", it is often seen on the surface of the moat in Hirosaki Park, and is often used online for tourist posters and pamphlets.

On the 28th, the first day of Golden Week, there were about 300,000 visitors, and the Hirosaki Sakura Festival opened and became the most crowded (announced by the Sakura Festival headquarters). Tourists who saw the flower raft commented, “Wow” and “Impressed.” There were also ducks swimming on the pink water surface, and some even pointed at the camera as “cute”.

Sora Aisaka, a 5th grader visiting from Tokyo, was impressed by the flower rafts and Hanafubuki that he saw for the first time, "a landscape that cannot be seen in Tokyo."

Hirosaki Sakura Festival is until May 6th.