No Tokyo cherry blossom parties? Government asks citizens to refrain from outdoor hanami parties

The sakura (cherry blossoms) are constantly cited as the most recognizable sign of spring in Japan, and that’s definitely true. When trees all over the country burst into breathtakingly beautiful clusters of pink flowers right about the time it gets warm enough to go outside without a heavy coat, people tend to mentally connect the two events.

But there’s another sight that shows you when spring is in full swing in Japan, and that’s the sudden appearance of crowds of people in parks for hanami, or cherry blossom-viewing, parties.

However, Tokyo might be seeing only one of those signs of spring this year. While the blooming of the sakura is an inevitable gift from Mother Nature, hanami parties are a conscious decision by the people attending, and government organizations across Japan are cautioning people to avoid unnecessary gatherings and crowded places as a countermeasure to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.

Hanami parties are generally all-day affairs, with a small contingent of friends or coworkers arriving early in the morning to stake out prime park spots and the festivities lasting into the early evening and often the night. The most popular sakura locations turn into stationary seas of people, and since cherry blossom-viewing parties are as much about eating and drinking as they are looking at flowers, attending one means spending several hours in close proximity to others with your mask removed in order to take bites of food or sips of your beverage.

All of those are conditions conducive to coronavirus transmission, and so on March 4 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government released a statement asking that people refrain from having parties, particularly those which involve eating or drinking, in municipally managed parks and riversides during hanami season. Ostensibly, the government would prefer if people refrain from parties in parks and other outdoor areas that aren’t under its supervision as well, but lacks the jurisdiction to officially make such a request.