Visitors snapped photos with their cameras and smartphones as the weeklong seasonal event opened at about 10 a.m., displaying 349 cherry trees of 134 different varieties along a roughly 560-meter path from the venue's south gate to north gate.
Mitsuo Itayama, a 79-year-old man from the city of Sakai, said, "I look forward to this event every year. I want to take time and see the beautiful cherry blossoms."
The Japan Mint selected as this year's cherry blossom prunus serrulata, or hill cherry, with a Japanese name meaning "big lantern," which boasts spherical large flowers.
The annual event has been staged for more than 130 years, uninterrupted except for during World War II and its aftermath. It offers free admittance and is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the weekend.
An outbreak of measles in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa is affecting local tourism ahead of the spring holiday season. (NHK) 
English-speaking guides will be available for visitors to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo from the beginning of May, in response to a surge in the number of foreign tourists, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. (Jiji) 
A new baggage-screening system that is better at detecting bombs has started operation at Haneda airport in Tokyo. (NHK) 
The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan in fiscal 2017 came close to 30 million at 29,772,570, another record high, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday. (Jiji) 
UNESCO has listed the Izu Peninsula in central Japan as a Global Geopark for its unique landform featuring many active volcanos in line.
(NHK) 
Visitors to a scenic mountain route through the Northern Japan Alps are enjoying the towering walls of snow under a bright sun. (NHK) 
Japanese game centers are must visit places on any trip to Japan, but in Tokyo, there is a place where you can time warp back to the 1980s and 1990s and play those games of the past, too. Since Japan was the leader in arcade game programming and machine production, the culture stretches back decades and those old machines are still in use! (ONLY in JAPAN) 
A ceremony was held at Tokyo Disneyland on Sunday to celebrate its 35th anniversary. (NHK) 
Japan will charge a departure tax of 1,000 yen ($9.37) per person beginning next year, with plans to use the anticipated 40 billion yen raised annually to bolster tourism.
(Nikkei) 
An annual cherry blossom viewing event that is a famous spring feature in Osaka, held since 1883, began Wednesday at the Japan Mint headquarters. (Japan Today)