Some of you might have heard of Japan’s ohanami (お花見, ‘flower viewing’) season before. Basically, hanami refers to the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers, primarily sakura (cherry blossoms). Unique to Japan, ‘hanami’ season is so much more than simply viewing flowers, it really becomes a huge, lively event for gatherings, outdoor parties, picnics, drinking, and marks the arrival of Spring. From the end of March to early May, cherry trees bloom all over Japan (except for the island of Okinawa, where they bloom in February). Hanami customs in modern Japan mainly involves going to a park for an outdoor picnic beneath the sakura trees during daytime or at night (called yozakura (夜桜, “night sakura”). As the blossoms only last a week or two, there is a certain beauty to taking a moment (or several days) to appreciate their transient beauty amidst a hectic schedule (usually, the peak of hanami takes place during the end of March to early April in Tokyo, which coincides exactly with the change of fiscal years in Japan).

お花見は、主に桜の花を鑑賞し、春の訪れを喜ぶ日本古来の風習ですね。その花は春の一時期にある地域で一斉に咲き競い、わずか2週間足らずで散るため、日本人の季節感を形成する重要な風物となっていますね。可憐な花の美しさが開花期間の短さ、散り際の潔さによりいっそう印象づけられ、しばしば人の命の儚さになぞらえると思います。そのためか古来より、桜は人を狂わせるといわれることもあるらしいですよね。