Flower Viewing

Hanami which means “Cherry Blossom (Sakura) viewing” in Japanese is an important tradition practiced by the Japanese in Japan.When viewing the Sakura with their colleagues, it is a practice that the company’s newcomers would go to the venue for the viewing earlier to find and reserve the best flower viewing spot for their seniors. If the venue is a very popular spot to view the flowers in Japan, then the newcomers would even need to reserve the best spot the day before, even to the extent of sleeping there overnight.

They usually celebrate the event through drinking, eating, playing and even listening to music. Special dishes such as Dango and Bento are prepared and eaten during these gatherings. It is also a common practice to drink Sake (Japanese rice wine). Sometimes they would have Karaoke session during the viewing.

Even though it seems as if viewing the cherry blossoms is the main objective, there is also a proverb “Hana Yori Dango” which means “dumpling rather than flowers” that makes fun of those who prefer eating to admiring the beauty of the flowers blooming.

With all the effort and hard work put in by the Japanese just to view the blooming of the Sakura, one must wonder why the Japanese love the Cherry blossom so much. Well, maybe because of the short life span of the Sakura that makes the Japanese want to treasure these flowers even more.

Graduation Season

In Japan, the month of March is often seen as the graduation season as most schools ends their school terms in March. This coincides with the Japanese school calendar and allow the schools time to prepare for the new entrants in April.

Most graduation ceremonies are held within the school compounds such as the auditoirium or the gymnasium. For high school graduates, the code of attire is often their school uniforms except for a few schools which require their students to purchase a graduation uniform.

On the other hand, it is a tradition for female university graduates to wear a Kimono/Hakama and male university graduates to wear either a suit/Hakama. This is contrary to other countries where the graduates would wear an academic dress with a mortarboard/tam/bonnet.

Sakura Zensen

To the Japanese people, flower viewing is a very important tradition. Every year between the months of March to May, the Japanese people would gather at parks to view the beautiful flowers blossom. The flowers viewed are usually Cherry Blossoms also known as Sakura in Japenese. There are many types of Sakura in Japan but the Somei Yoshi No is the main type that is viewed by the Japanese.

During this spring season, weather forecast would show where in Japan have the cherry blossoms bloom. There is also a rating of 1-10 to show how much of the flowers have blossomed. Ratings 8 and above would mean a full bloom of the flowers.

However this year, the winter was colder than usual in Japan hence resulted in a later blooming of the flowers.

An example of a Cherry blossom weather map:

The forecast of this year:
http://sakura.weathermap.jp/

Hina Matsuri

Hina matsuri is a traditional festival held by the Japanese on 3 March yearly to pray for the growth and happiness of young girls in Japan. It is a Doll Festival where the Japanese people would display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants and musicians in traditional court dresses of the Heian Period. Apparently, the arrangement of the dolls from left to right defers between the Kanto and Kansai regions!

During the festival, Shirozake (sake), Hina-arare (bite-sized crackers) and Ushiojiru (salted-soup base containing clams still intact with the shells) are a customary dishes and drinks. Clam shells in food are a symbol of a united and peaceful couple as none other than the original pair of clam shells fits perfectly.

There was also a superstition about the festival that if the dolls were displayed past 4 March, it would result in the late marriages of the daughters.