Just over an hour’s train ride away from Yokohama, Miura beach in southern Kanagawa Prefecture, has been a popular destination for many visitors from all over the Kanto region who usually flock there during the summer to enjoy its long sandy beaches and numerous other attractions. While few visitors, except for dedicated hard-core surfers perhaps, come here during the winter, there are many good reasons to visit. One of these reasons is Miura’s colorful cherry blossoms from mid-to late February. Over the last number of years, this festival has attracted large numbers of visitors who come here to see the rich and vibrant colors.
While most of Japan’s cherry blossoms usually bloom from late March to early April, Miura is home to a different type of flower called Kawazu Sakura, which generally blooms about one month earlier. Kawazu Sakura also differs other regular cherry blossoms in the fact that they have a distinctive deep rich pink colorful, which really helps to add some much needed color to the end of the winter season.
Under normal circumstances, Miura usually holds an annual cherry blossom festival which runs for about 2 weeks from mid to late February. During this festival, visitors can do a 15 minute walk from Miura-Kaigan Station to Komatsugaike Park, which offers many colorful sights. Some of these sights include over 1000 Kawazu Sakura trees that are lined up along the main road running parallel to the Keikyu train line. Although this year’s festival was officially cancelled because of COVID-19, I decided to come along anyway and was surprised by the vast number of visitors who obviously had the same idea as me. Although there were fewer food and drink stalls than usual, the pleasant 15 minute walk from the station to Komatsugaike park, provided plenty of colorful sights that definitely made this a worthwhile visit
Getting there
The festival starts directly outside of Miura-Kaigan Station. The station is situated on the Keikyu mainline, an hour’s ride from Yokohama, with single fares costing around 590 Yen. Alternatively, visitors can also take the same line from Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station, which takes a little under 90 minutes, with single fares cost approximately 880 Yen
