Hope your cherry blossom season is going well. Since I live in Tohoku, mine has yet to start, but I am heading down to Tokyo this weekend so hopefully I can catch the tail end of the Tokyo cherry blossoms. Chances are, if you haven’t already made some plans to travel during cherry blossom season, you aren’t going to, so now I am encouraging you to explore your “own backyard.”

There is a (photography) saying that goes, “beauty is hardest to find in your own backyard,” which essential means it is harder to find and make beautiful photos where you live. There are beautiful cherry blossom trees all over Japan, you don’t need to go to a famous place to get some nice photos, just walk around or ask the locals for a few suggestions! If you haven’t already checked out the cherry blossom photos at the gallery, here they are.

This photograph was taken by Evan Pike.

And the NCAA update… 1st time all four #1 seeds are in the final four, woohoo! My predictions are UNC over Kansas and Memphis over UCLA. Then UNC over Memphis in the championship, 82-77.