Welcome to Tokyo Meet Market

The spring has arrived! Flowers are blooming with vitality, colour and fragrances, the children are running around, laughing in the parks, birds are singing, and the cats are in heat, calling loudly as they mate. (I’m not kidding, I woke up to the cats this morning LoL) But of all the spring signals we see in Tokyo, the most famous is the beautiful cherry blossom.

Cherry blossom season coincides with the start of Japanese schools and business year, making the flowers a symbol of a fresh new start, it also symbolizes friendship. New start, friendship, warm weather, park… they all point to hanami party, a picnic party under the blooming trees. Hanami, which literally means flower-viewing , is a Japanese symbolic custom in spring. This custom of hanami has its root in the Nara Period for the aristocracy to hold events of enjoying the beauty of flowers. It is a way to appreciate the cherry trees which have opened, to celebrate the fresh start in spring.  In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night, another reason to party, to drink, and meet new people.

Hanami is a serious business in Japan, providing important social opportunities. Friends and co-workers gather in great numbers wherever the flowering trees are found. Thousands of people fill the parks to hold feasts under the flowering trees, and sometimes these parties go on until late at night. Love fever is contagious around spring and magical love can materialize out of thin air. Hanami, is such an occasion to take the Meet Market out of the restaurants out into the outdoors.

As for me, I’m planning on a hanami parties with my close friends 🙂 Hope you are enjoying the spring time too!

I'm not kidding... it gets REALLY crowded for hanami parties