South Korea's naval city turns pink every April — 350,000 cherry trees along canals, railway tracks, and hilltop fortifications in the world's largest cherry blossom festival
Jinhae (now administratively part of Changwon) is a former Japanese naval base turned South Korean naval headquarters, and for 51 weeks of the year it is a quiet, orderly city of apartment blocks and naval facilities. For one week in early April, when 350,000 cherry trees planted by the Japanese colonial administration simultaneously bloom, it transforms into what is arguably the most spectacular sakura display in the world — certainly more concentrated and dramatic than anything in Japan. The Yeojwacheon Stream lined with double rows of cherry trees is the iconic shot; Jinhae Tower at the hi…
Jinhae was developed as a Japanese naval base after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), when Japan recognised the strategic value of the deep natural harbour on the Korean peninsula's south coast. The Japanese planted cherry trees as part of a broader programme of making colonial Korea feel Japanese — the same trees that Korean nationalists later wanted cut down as symbols of occupation, but which pragmatically were retained and eventually became a source of local pride and national tourism revenue.