Flower Viewing

Hanami, or literally the act of viewing flowers in English, is the Japanese traditional way of enjoying the awe-inspiring beauty of flowers. In this case, the flowers that are viewed are almost always cherry blossoms, sakura in Japanese, or plum blossoms, ume in Japanese. From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa. The blossom forecast, sakura zensen in Japanese meaning literally cherry blossom front, is announced each year by the weather stations, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms only last a week or two. In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party or picnic with lots of friends and family or even random other hanami viewers that were met on the travel to hanami beneath the sakura during the day or at night. The hanami celebrations usually involve eating and drinking, and playing and listening to music. Some special dishes are prepared and eaten at the occasion, like dango and bento, sake is commonly drunk as part of the festivity.

Hanami at night is called yozakura, night sakura in Japanese. In many places such as Ueno Park temporary paper lanterns are hung for the purpose of yozakura. On the island of Okinawa, decorative electric lanterns are hung in the trees for evening enjoyment, such as on the trees ascending Mt. Yae, near Motobu Town, or at the Nakijin Castle

A more older form of hanami also exists in Japan, which is enjoying the plum blossoms, or ume in Japanese, instead, which is narrowly referred to as umemi, plum viewing in English. This kind of hanami is popular among old generations of people, because they are more calm than the sakura parties and gatherings, which usually involve younger people and can sometimes be very crowded and noisy.

 Hanami festivities have become popular outside of Japan as well, and are now also celebrated in other countries. Smaller hanami celebrations take place in Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and China. Hanami also has become popular in the United States. In 1912, Japan gave 3,000 sakura trees as a gift to the United States to celebrate the nations' friendship. These trees were planted in Washington D.C., and another 3,800 trees were donated in 1965. These sakura trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction, and every year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival takes place when they bloom in early spring.