A private Japan in cherry season is one of the most asked-for commissions of our year, and one of the shortest windows we work within. The bloom in Kyoto lasts, if the weather holds, perhaps eight or nine days. It is a season of precision, and a season rewarded by it.
The first thing we tell travellers considering Japan in April is that the cherry blossom is not the journey. It is the frame. The journey is what is done around it — the mornings, the small temples, the tables held for one party, the ryokans with a private entrance and a room along the river.
Kyoto in bloom done well is a series of quiet arrangements. Early-morning access to gardens before the other travellers have woken. A private tea ceremony in a townhouse kept by one of the city’s last houses of its craft. A dinner in a small restaurant, eight seats, a single chef, that does not advertise itself. A walk through the bamboo above Arashiyama at an hour when the path is still wet.
We pair Kyoto, usually, with a short week somewhere quieter: a ryokan in the mountains above Takayama, the island of Naoshima for its art, a few days in the small port city of Kanazawa, which is quietly one of our favourite places in the country. A private car between these places, a bilingual guide if wanted, and otherwise — space.
A note on the season. We tell clients each year: the blossom will come when the blossom comes. We plan around a likely window, with flexibility at both ends, and we never promise weather. What we can promise is that the country around the blossom, if you travel with a little patience, is one of the most rewarding journeys a luxury traveller can take. Japan rewards quiet attention like few other countries, and April rewards it more than most.
If a private cherry journey is on your mind for the year ahead, we recommend beginning the conversation early. The rooms we like to hold are the first to go.
