Yuki Hayakawa stands out in the crowd of cherry blossom viewers. And not just because the 37-year-old employee wears a mask in soft pink, the color of cherry blossoms, when she walks along the Sumida River in Tokyo. But because she photographs the flowers with a real camera, not with a smartphone like most others. “This is my first hanami with the camera,” she says. “Photography is a new hobby that I can also do on my own.” A concession to the distance requirements of the pandemic, which are also shaping the cherry blossom festivals in Japan this year.
Hanami is still not what it used to be. Because looking at the sakura, the cherry blossom, is only one side of the Japanese spring celebration. The other has to do with socializing, with food and alcohol. Before the pandemic, hanami was always a picnic for the masses, where the Japanese restraint that had been cultivated was transformed into a beery joie de vivre. Friends went out to celebrate under the cherry trees. Company departments sent young colleagues to the parks at noon to reserve places for the evening. Yuki Hayakawa liked it too. She shows a picture with friends at the Sumida on her smartphone. Hanami 2019. Blessed memory.
Prohibition signs everywhere
This year, the prohibition signs are once again hanging on the most popular cherry tree avenues in Tokyo, for example on the banks of the Sumida or in Ueno Park. Security forces are on their way to break up the few parties that do exist. “It’s a request,” says a Taito District parking attendant. The administration has also tried not to appear too authoritarian with the text on the sign at the entrance to Ueno Park. “We ask you … to refrain from parties with alcoholic beverages.” Banning hanami picnics is a bit like denying a piece of Japanese identity. You don’t like doing that.
A canoeist navigates the Meguro River through cherry blossoms floating on the water
(Photo: Zhang Xiaoyu/dpa)
But most people in Japan follow. They always did that during the pandemic. Especially in hanami times. Yuki Hayakawa is a good example. “In 2020 I wasn’t outside at all,” she says, back then the fear of Covid-19 was still fresh. In 2021, when hardly anyone was vaccinated and the state of emergency was in effect, she went to the trees and even had a picnic. But just a small one with a friend and her kid in a park in Chiba. And this year she’s out with her new camera. Vaccination and the less aggressive mutant Omikron have taken the fear out of the coronavirus. The state of emergency is gone, only caution is still there. “The rules are almost the same as in 2021,” says Yuki Hayakawa. But she sees more people standing close to the flowers to take photos and selfies. “The mood is a little more relaxed.”
Yuki Hayakawa also likes hanami without a party.
(Photo: Thomas Hahn)
In Ueno Park, signs and barriers regulate hanami traffic. Under the cherry trees, one track leads out of the park and one into the park. A mass migration is on the way. A lot of people have settled down at the big fountain in front of the National Museum, you can take a break. But on one of the stone steps by the fountains, a group of three women and three men actually spread a tarp and brought food. Pandemic picnic. unheard of.
The park attendant warned them “twice,” they say. Before the pandemic they were always under the trees, the space by the fountain is the compromise. And they keep the alcohol in the thermos so no one sees it. “Out of consideration.” You seem relaxed. Your resistance is rather polite.
Yuki Hayakawa also likes hanami without a party. Especially the late phase. “Cherry blossoms are like snow. When they fall, it gives such a poetic mood.” Nevertheless, she hopes that it will be even looser next year. Her new hobby with the camera doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want to drink with the others again.