This year’s Hanami – Kinuta Park

“Hanami” (花見)　stands for the past time activity of “cherry blossom viewing” in Japanese. The main concern of every single person in Japan around the end of March is whether the cherry trees (or sakura) have started bloom and when will the peak blooming take place. After learing about the days of interest from the special “sakura blooming” weather report, a cohort of new problems appears; “which park has the highest ranking for sakura?”, “should we do day picnic or night picnic?” or my personal favourite “should we get drunk or should we get absolutelly wasted?”.

People who decided to do a day picnic

This year, after two succesful night hanami parties, one at TokyoTech campus and one at Yoyogi park, I decided that I needed to visit a park during the day in order to strike a balance. My busy schedule didn’t leave many options available, so I ended up walking to the park closest to my house: Kinuta park.

The entrance of Kinuta park

The conditions were perfect: a warm Sunday noon, at the peak blooming period in Tokyo. The park was crowded with children running around, making soap bubbles. At the park entrance, a group of friends were playing an impromptu concert with japanese drums.

The combination of decent sunlight and a fluffy, pink background, made it ideal for professional and amateur photographers to capture the corniest cherry blossom picture. The photo shoot themes varied from cute girlfriend to sexy geisha.

A rare sight (and uncomfortable in my opinion):
A cat on a leash posing for a photo shot as well

After wandering around for a while, you may find yourself in a situation where you are hungry but foodless. Fear not, because a tasty street food stall is waiting for you at the corner. I strongly recommend takoyaki (fried octupus-balls).