It's a sunny weekend in May. The blue sky stretches over Copenhagen. The cherry trees are in full bloom and whilst sitting on the lawn of the castle one could hear a beating drum sound. From over the moat there is a Japanese themed festival and the celebration echo over the fortress.

Let's rewind to the morning from here. It's a quiet morning in Langelinie Park. Although snow fell during the early hours, the birds are looking for food in between the cherry flowers. Alongside the paths there are white stalls set up and in the blue backdrop two swans float by in the seawater. The sun slowly rises over the park and festival staff show up one by one to prepare for the event. Before one even realizes it a crowd of people have poured into the park and the event starts to take shape under the cherry trees. A small crowd has gathered around the mochi making on the lawn and the children also get to approach and hit the mochi.

On the main stage different martial arts were displayed. Aikido, karate, kendo all were shown one by one and their main principles were briefly explained. While the crowd was watching the performance the sound of an engine could be heard from the sea and shortly after an airplane circled the sky above the park.

The visitors wandered around in the park. From the stalls they sold Japanese food and toys. A flight of stairs up there was a stall where they gave out tourist information for Japan. On the same block the Kyudo club showed their bows, next to them there was a tent where they held workshops. They held one on manga and one on sumi-e, for example. Two girls held a workshop on calligraphy. Afterwards they asked nicely to anyone to watch their performance later.

As the day moved on the main stage continued with performance arts. The two girls that held the calligraphy workshop entered the stage and presented their performance. Then they moved alongside each other to music and wrote on a big canvas. After their performance a taisho koto band entered the stage. It was said that they had come all the way from Japan just to perform. The performances continued per schedule. Among them there was a kimono show about the different situations for kimonos. After a while a big crowd of people tried to find a spot in front of the stage to watch the cosplay contest.

The last two performances of the festival were the bon-odori and wadaiko. Women in pretty kimonos entered the stage. In their hands they had straw hats which they held over their heads as they danced around in circles. After they bowed to the audience, the wadaiko band took the stage and prepared their drums. The performance kicked off. They hit the drums and shouted as they also moved from drum to drum. The beat could be felt in the guts and the sound continued out from the park.

After their performance they bowed to the audience and girls for the bon-odori entered the stage again. They asked the audience to move away from the lawn. Then the girls danced out onto the lawn and anyone who wanted to join could dance with them.

And that was the end of the Sakura Festival for this year. The crowd of people thinned out. There was an opportunity to buy some melon bread before the stalls closed. The photographer purchased some melon bread and brought it with him on a walk with friends into the city. As the sun slowly set it reflected yellow warm colors onto the streets. The walk led past a lavious church and past the famous Nyhavn which is a destination for many photographers. Finally the path led up to the newly burnt down stock exchange building. There a final picture was taken and that concluded this photo session.