Hirosaki and the Cherry Blossoms

One of the more momentous times of the year in Japan is the few months the cherry blossoms bloom. The Japanese will actually plan months in advance to have cherry blossom parties in the parks and gardens where they are prevalent. They will set out there tarps, cook on their mini barbecue pit, and drink copious amounts of sake and beer. In our part of the country they appeared at the end of April, so we went to one of the most popular places to view them in Hirosaki.
Located about 2 hours drive due west of us, Hirosaki has a very large castle grounds with some nicely restored guard towers. The main attraction for us on this trip, however, were the cherry blossoms. The castle grounds boast over 2000 cherry blossom trees on the premises. You can also view Mt. Iwaki-san from the grounds. We plan on hiking to the top of this volcanic mountain later this summer.
The Japanese celebrate in this area with a large festival with numerous food booths, traditional drumming competitions, and the tarp parties which I previously mentioned. The cherry blossoms only hang around for a couple of weeks (if you're lucky), so we didn't have much of a window to go view them. The limited time frame means a lot of people and as many cameras.