From Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Spring has come and with it, marking its 120th Anniversary, comes the hugely popular Mito-no-Ume Matsuri (Mito Plum Blossom Festival) !

The Mito Plum Blossom Festival is a longestablished festival which appears earlier than the cherry blossoms that herald the coming of spring. The festival was fi rst held in year 1896 and, every year since then, has attract hordes of visitors to Ibaraki Prefecture to witness this festival together with other interesting special From Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan events during the season. The festival is held at the Japan’s government Heritage sites of ‘Kairakuen’ and ‘Kodokan’ in Mito city, the capital of Ibaraki prefecture.

With approximately 100 different types of blooming plum trees, alongside roughly 3,000 types species of fl owers in the Kairikuen garden, the particularly popular plum festival with one of the largest fl owers collections in Japan is held every spring, from late-February until late-March, attracting more than 500,000 people from Japan and across the world annually. There were a total of 510,000 visitors who came to join the festival in year 2015.

Kodokan and Kairakuen are located in Mito City, 120 kilometres northwest of Tokyo. It’s easily accessed and is approximatly one hour from Tokyo station by the Ueno-Tokyo Line (limited express train). The Festival will be held from Saturday, 20th February to Thursday, 31st March in this year. There will be also associated events as well, such as the Plum Wine Festival (Ume-shu) and the Light-up Plum Viewing Festival (Yoru-Ume Matsuri).

For more information, log on to website: http://www.mitokoumon.com/