Washington:
Washington:
People took to the streets of Washington D.C. on April 8, 2017 to celebrate spring and cherry blossoms at the annual Cherry Blossom Festival Parade.
The festival, held every April, thrills tourists and Washington, D.C., residents alike with colorful floats, marching bands, beauty queens, celebrity performers, giant balloons and more.
The festivities, which span four weeks, began on March 15, and will continue through April 16.
More than 1.5 million travel to DC to see the cherry blossoms, according to festival organizers.
The celebrations honor the friendship between the United States and Japan. In 1912, Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, gave 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the district of Columbia as a gift.
The cherry blossoms were in "peak bloom" from April 3-6, according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival Organization, and will be changing from light pink to green in the next few days.
Japan:
Crowds of tourists and residents set off a flurry of selfie sticks and mobile phones in Tokyo's Ueno Park on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 as they flocked to enjoy the cherry blossoms marking the start of spring.
"It's very romantic," said Gu Shuyi, a tourist from Beijing. "People say the petals of cherry blossoms are like snow, and I agree. I think it's very beautiful that we can see something like snow in warm weather, in a season of rebirth."
That is especially important for foreign tourists, who plan holidays to catch a glimpse. Japan's tourism ministry says the number of foreign tourists peaked in April last year, thanks to the popularity of the sakura flowers.
Beneath the flowering sakura trees, Tokyo residents laid out picnics, with some company employees arriving early to reserve places for colleagues still at work.
Monks marched down the paths of Ueno Park to the music of their flutes, as people rowed boats in the moat of the Imperial Palace.
Spring, it appears, has arrived.
China:
Visitors enjoy the cherry blossoms at the Yuyuantan Park during spring festival in Beijing. People crowded the park, which has more than 2,000 cherry trees, for the popular annual Cherry Blossoms festival.
Germany:
Beautiful images of cherry tree blossoms being photographed by locals and tourists on Cherry Blossom Avenue in downtown Bonn, Germany showed the early arrival of spring for Germany as well.
The cherry tree bloom arrived about 10 to 12 days earlier as per the Hesse department of agriculture.
1. Sakuras in Tokyo
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People look at blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo, Japan.
Image courtesy: Reuters
2. Ueno Park
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A woman wearing a Kimono looks at blooming cherry blossoms at Ueno park in Tokyo, Japan on April 5, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
3. Beijing, China
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Visitors enjoy the cherry blossoms at the Yuyuantan Park during spring festival in Beijing. People crowded the park, which has more than 2,000 cherry trees, for the popular annual Cherry Blossoms festival.
Image courtesy: PTI
4. Shanghai, China
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A man carries his pet cat as he walk under the cherry blossoms at Tongji University in Shanghai, China
Image courtesy: Reuters
5. Kyoto
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Women wearing Kimonos pose for a souvenir photo with blooming cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan.
Image courtesy: Reuters
6. Blossoms in Tokyo
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People walk under cherry blossoms in a park in Tokyo on April 6, 2017. Japan's cherry blossom season kicks off boozy parties across the country and draws tourists from far and wide.
Image courtesy: AFP
7. A couple pose for pictures
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A couple poses for a photo with blooming cherry blossom trees in Kyoto, Japan.
Image courtesy: Reuters
8. Martin Luther King Jr. engulfed in blossoms
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The face on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial rises above the cherry trees as a visitor photographs the blossoms along the Tidal Basin in Washington.
Image courtesy: Reuters
9. A cat perched in a cherry tree
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A cat is seen in a cherry blossom tree at a park in Tokyo.
Image courtesy: Reuters
10. Tidal Basin, Washington
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Women in kimonos take photos under the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin on a misty morning in Washington.
Image courtesy: Reuters
11. Canopy of blossoms
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A child looks back from beneath a canopy of cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin on a misty morning in Washington.
Image courtesy: Reuters
12. Full bloom
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Baseball players work out underneath blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
Image courtesy: Reuters
13. Swan Lake
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People ride boats underneath cherry trees at Ueno park in Tokyo.
Image courtesy: Reuters
14. Cherry Blossom Avenue
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A tourist takes a picture at Heerstrasse flanked by pink cherry tree blossoms on Cherry Blossom Avenue in downtown Bonn, Germany.
Image courtesy: Reuters
15. Bonn, Germany
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A monument at Heerstrasse is flanked by pink cherry tree blossoms on Cherry Blossom Avenue in downtown Bonn, Germany.
Image courtesy: Reuters
