Ahead of this year's extended Golden Week holiday, which starts Saturday and will last 10 days to commemorate the Imperial succession, tourist destinations and resorts are seeking to attract customers by planning new events and making other special arrangements.
The Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, for example, usually attracts 2 million tourists from across Japan during Golden Week, with its 2,600 cherry blossom trees at Hirosaki Park.
Although this year's festival started April 21 and will run through May 6, the main-attraction Someiyoshino cherry blossom trees are expected to be in full bloom on Wednesday. To ensure visitors can enjoy cherry blossoms for the entire period, the city has prepared 108 pots with 13 other species that bloom later than the Someiyoshino. After the Someiyoshino petals begin to fall, the pots will be put on display when their trees bloom.
The Hirosaki city government is also promoting hana-ikada, or flower rafts, at the park, in which cherry blossom petals will fall onto the surface of the outer moat, coloring it pink. The Golden Week holiday is said to be the best period for seeing such scenery.
"At our park, four flowers bloom from one bud on the cherry blossoms, and visitors can see both the cherry blossoms and hana-ikada at the same time," a park official said. "You can have a good time throughout the entire 10-day holiday."
Meanwhile, Tateyama Kurobe Kanko Co., which operates the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route that traverses the Northern Alps in Toyama and Nagano prefectures, has changed the name of an event that the company holds from spring through early summer to "Snow Wall Festival" from "Snow Wall Walk." The company will also increase the number of scenic spots and offer various experiences.
It has also moved up the opening of its Snow Plaza -- a venue that features snow-topped walkways and snow walls from which visitors can take pictures -- from its previous May date to April 15. Additionally, the company opened a new event space near Daikanbo cable-car station in Tateyama, Toyama Prefecture, as well as created a large kamakura snow dome on the station's rooftop terrace.
In regular years, the Snow Wall Walk attracts about 300,000 people from mid-April to late June who come to walk along pathways carved between 16-meter-tall snow walls. However, as some visitors cancel their trips due to bad weather, Tateyama Kurobe Kanko is promoting a variety of other experiences this year, hoping that these efforts will attract more visitors.
In Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, a local performing arts festival featuring female dancers will be held on May 4 to coincide with Golden Week, even though it took place in June last year.
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