A couple of weeks ago, after a day trip to Tsuyama for a spot of hanami – more on that in this post on my travel blog – I headed for the station to catch the first available rapid service back to Okayama.

Imagine my surprise when the sight of this train greeted me on the platform.

It was a completely unplanned encounter. I’d chosen my trains based primarily on timetables, and I wasn’t even aware that this limited-edition promotional service was running on the Tsuyama Line. (There were ads playing in the JR ticket office in Okayama, but I didn’t pay much attention to them at the time.)

Nothing special about the hardware itself, just an ordinary local-type train – diesel powered from the looks of it – but the wrap-around decor and the banners inside the carriage certainly livened things up a bit.

For more information about the train, check out this page.

Thus runs the tagline of my new travel blog, Within Striking Distance, also hosted by the friendly servers of wordpress.com.

Given that the present site is – at least nominally – an anime-themed blog, I’ve decided to give my increasingly numerous travelogues a home of their own. All previous travel posts will remain here, and I may even add a few more if it’s to do with trips taken before 01 April 2013. However, anything related to travel done after that date (including my upcoming return visit to Japan, due to commence this evening) will eventually find a place in the new blog.

Just to be clear, the present site will remain active – or at any rate, as active as work, time and energy will permit – except that it will become a bit more focused on its original reason for being. For example, this April’s trip to Japan will be described in detail on the other blog, but if I feel like writing about any anime artbooks or Blu-rays I might acquire during my visit, those posts will end up right here.

Cheerio, and safe journeys everyone.

. . . per Unigénitum tuum æternitátis nobis áditum, devícta morte, reserásti: vota nostra, quæ præveniéndo aspíras, étiam adiuvándo proséquere. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia saecula sæculórum. Amen.

- Collect of the Mass of Easter Sunday

Diego wishes you, your family, and all your loved ones a very happy Easter.

Flowering cherries, that is.

Whilst a decent figurative title under other circumstances, it now reflects the literal truth for many a prospective traveller to Japan this spring (myself included). Unseasonably warm temperatures sweeping across large parts of the country have triggered a much earlier start to 2013′s hanami season than originally anticipated, with places such as Tokyo seeing their trees break out into clouds of white and pink as early as mid-March. This will likely scupper the travel plans of quite a few visitors who have planned and booked their holidays around older forecasts, sending them – yes, as titled – chasing after wherever the blooming might still be in progress within striking distance of their original destinations.

My own trip was (and remains) booked for the first half of April, and naturally I’ve felt the impact of this unexpected turn of events. Not a disaster in my case, fortunately enough, as my itinerary was built primarily around non-hanami-related destinations (mainly of a historical and cultural nature), so the cherry blossoms were more of an added bonus rather than a critical element. In any case, I would not have advanced my departure by a week or so even if alerted earlier to the changed conditions, especially with Holy Week falling in the tail end of March this year (time best spent reflectively on one’s home turf, unless one happens to be out on a pilgrimage).

That said, having seen a few years ago (when I took the image above) how breathtaking the sight of cherry trees in full bloom can be, I’ve joined the scores of other travellers scouring guidebooks and websites for places where one might yet catch a fleeting glimpse of sakura in all their spring finery. If anyone out there is in the same position, I can recommend the following pages on the Japan Guide website:

* Cherry Blossom Forecast 2013 – Updated regularly (even daily in the past week or so as the season began), this page summarises both expected and actual blooming dates, accompanied by estimates of when the trees will be at their best. Scroll further down on the same page to access links to their regular cherry blossom reports from different parts of the country (great for assessing the state of things in one’s intended destinations).
* Too late for cherry blossoms in Tokyo? – As the page title suggests, this contains a list of suggestions for those arriving in Tokyo too late for the best part of the season. Among these is a helpful rundown of various destinations (many within a couple of hours’ travel of the capital) where the season is expected to start/end significantly later than in the city itself.

Cheerio, and all the best on your own sakura hunt.

Amazon’s got a date now, so it’s only a matter of time.

Cheerio.

. . . I’d like to reward you with a hint.

Probably won’t be out in time, but I’m quite willing to wait.

Cheerio.

As we kick the doors of 2013 wide open, Diego happily wishes you all the best in the year ahead.

. . . cui nomen erat Joánnes. Hic venit in testimónium, ut testimónium perhibéret de lúmine, ut omnes créderent per illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimónium perhibéret de lúmine. Erat lux vera quæ illúminat omnem hóminem veniéntem in hunc mundum.

Diego wishes you, your family, and all your loved ones a very happy Christmas.

I still don’t.

But I still like the way the numbers line up.

Let’s savour the moment, chaps, as this’ll probably be the last opportunity to do so in most of our lifetimes.

Cheerio.

And then yesterday, news broke of a possible rescheduling, rather than an outright cancellation.

This is where one might, under different circumstances, gratefully type out the words “and I breathed a sigh of relief” – but I shan’t do so just yet. (Other than to illustrate the point.)

I haven’t been keeping tabs on Media Blasters, but if the comments related to the two articles linked above are anything to go by . . . well, let’s just say their reputation for punctuality in so far as release schedules are concerned isn’t quite up to Japanese railway standards.

So all things considered, perhaps it would be a little premature to break out the champagne. (Or soda water, depending on the age of the readership.) The not-quite-so-old saying up in the post title sums up my guiding principle on this matter.

Cheerio.