Cherry blossoms around Palaceside Building seem to have reached peak viewing at once after a bomb low passed. Chiyoda Ward, including this area, is in the thick of the "Chiyoda Sakura Festival" through the 8th. In Jimbocho's used-book district, the annual "Sakura-michi Festival" runs for three days, the 6th–8th, with many bookshops holding wagon sales centered on Yasukuni-dori. Many must be looking forward to it.
This year brings a first: something bigger—the "Chiyoda Sakura Book Fair" at Chiyoda Ward Office first-floor community hall, also the 6th–8th. As organizer Kanda Used Bookshop Federation PR says, "You'll feel the depth of the antiquarian world and Jimbocho's strength"—rare old books unlike bargain sales on Yasukuni-dori, lined up in rows. A catalog on the organizer site (http://jimbou.info/news/sakura2012_catalog.pdf) shows treasures at a glance: Natsume Soseki "I Am a Cat" (Okura/Fukudate first edition, Meiji 38, 3 vols., ¥3.15 million) = photo above =, Charles Darwin "Origin of Species" (1959 first edition, ¥6 million) = photo below =, "Edo souvenirs picture book" (Hiroshige, 10 vols., ¥1.2 million), Andy Warhol Marilyn silkscreen (¥63,000), Kurosawa "Rashomon" poster (¥189,000), and more beyond books. Just looking seems fun—or sigh-inducing...
The venue is a five-minute walk from Palaceside Building. Free shuttle buses run the area on the 7th and 8th; Palaceside Building, normally closed Sundays, opens specially on the 8th.
