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The white lily is Kitakami's city flower.
 These ones are growing in a neighbor's yard. They also grow wild along the mountain roads in the area. Beautiful wildflowers and pink azaleas alongside the Hitokabe River in Oshu City.
 In Japan, the sakura are not just spectacular to look at — they also herald the coming spring. While the cherry blossoms distract everyone, the rest of the plant kingdom quietly push out their buds and flowers.
These photos are from the end of April.    One of the main reasons our houseguests chose to visit us in the spring was the sakura ¡½ o-hanami, or flower-viewing, is a big deal in Japan. The Japan Meteorological Association publishes "sakura forecasts" throughout the spring so that people can plan their o-hanami trips accordingly. Additionally, some organizations have ranked the "best sakura-viewing locations" throughout Japan; JR features Tenshochi on its posters as one of the three best places in northern Tohoku.
O-hanami is about more than just looking at the flowers. Restaurants, civic groups, or just groups of friends plan picnics with lots of food and drink in prime blossom-viewing locations. This year, the blossoms came about two weeks early, so by the time our houseguests arrived, the sakura were mostly gone from Kitakami. Nevertheless, we joined the local Okinawan joint's o-hanami party in one of the last parks to have blossoms. The day itself was not optimal for picnicking under the remaining sakura, being all cold and gray. So we made plans to go to Fukusenji, a temple in nearby Tono, with some friends the following day. At Fukusenji, we found the trees in full bloom. So did busloads of tourists from other parts of Japan.  Many other trees were coming to life at the same time. On a small overlook, sakura and leafing yamamomiji (mountain maple) trees shared the view.  Sakura blossoms at the entrance to the Kitakami Poem Park, located in the middle of Kitakami City.
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