Matsumoto

A day spent in the town on Matsumoto, visiting the castle as well as an epically cherry-blossomed park (seen here).

Mum had been very excited to see cherry blossom in all it's glory, but before the holiday it had increasinly looked like we were gonna miss it (due to the stupidly short time before flowering and falling off the trees). So it was lovely to find that in the north around where we were staying there was actually still a lot around.

It should be noted that getting anywhere by car in Japan takes an age. They may have sussed out their trains, but not so much automotively. The average speed limit for all roads that aren't 'highways' (which we didn't encounter once) is 50kpm. That's 31mph, along roads which would be 60mph over here. It makes for relaxing (and safe) driving, but my word does it take a while to get places.