The last of the cherry blossoms. Sakura petals lingering into early May on trees on Wakasayama in Nara.

The deer you see in the photograph are part of the herd of semi-domesticated "sacred deer" found in the area between Wakasayama, the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, Kasuga Taisha and of course, Nara Koen. They can be hand fed using the deer senbei (a cookie comprised mostly of fiber) provided from nearby vendors.

As explained in the previous newsletter, the march of the cherry blossoms - the sakurazensen - begins in Kyushu in mid-March and ends in southern Hokkaido. The flowers are now blooming in Matsumae and about to blossom in Sapporo at the moment. On Honshu in most places the petals have already fallen, with the exception of cooler areas at higher altitudes. Mount Wakasayama overlooks Nara City, and on a clear day you can look north to the outskirts of Kyoto, and west across the Yamato plain to Mount Ikoma, on the otherside of which is Osaka.

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