Things I didn't do early on: "yozakura"

Yozakura is the term for viewing cherry blossoms by night. It normally implies viewing trees that are intentionally lit up for the exact purpose of viewing them by night. In Japanese it is written with the kanji for night 夜 and the kanji for cherry blossoms 桜; literally night cherry blossoms 夜桜.

Some cherry blossom locations might not have a festival, but they light their cherry blossoms at night for "yozakura". Often, they use traditional lanterns, which adds to the beauty. In theory "yozakura" can refer to viewing cherry blossoms by night even if they aren't lit up. Especially as cherry blossoms are often 'shine' naturally with the moonlight. There is a term for that in Japanese: hanaakari, which literally means flower light. 

I was in Japan many years before I intentionally went along to a "yozakura" event, to see cherry blossoms by night. Now I do it every year. I particularly love - and strongly recommend - locations with water so you can see the cherry blossoms reflected in dark water, like in the photo in this post.