Gallery: Tokyo goes pink -- it's cherry blossom season

Tokyo is so large and culturally-fractured that there are few events that really bring the whole city together. There is one exception, however: cherry blossom season in late March/early April.

This year, the peak sakura bloom lined up perfectly with a rain-free weekend, so everyone hit the public parks and temples to do some hanami partying. It's an easy time to feel great about Tokyo as fluffy pink clouds mercifully cover up all the usual architectural blandness of the city.

Photographer Sean Wood hit the town and captured these images of a city gone pink. Now you know where to go before this week is up.

Sakura in full bloom in Narita Higashi, an area in the West Tokyo neighborhood of Suginami-ku.

 

Kids play on a monument in Narita Higashi park.

 

The Sakura blooming usually only lasts between one and two weeks depending on the weather.

 

A view of the National Museum of Modern Art near Kudanshita.

 

Entrance gate to Nippon Budokan.

 

Pathway to the entrance of the Nippon Budokan.

 

Grounds surrounding the Nippon Budokan.

 

An obscured view of part of the Imperial Palace grounds.

 

9am Sunday morning and the grounds around the Imperial Palace are already overflowing.

 

Sakura blooming at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

 

Sakura line a good kilometer of Yasukuni Street. You only realize that during this time of year. During the other seasons they are just "trees."