Hanami

Each spring in Japan brings the beautiful and fleeting sakura (cherry blossoms). Perhaps the reason they are so loved is due to the fact that they disappear so quickly. Personally, I think plum and peach blossoms are more beautiful than cherry ones, but they are beautiful nonetheless. With the blooming of the sakura comes hanami (flower viewing) parties. Once the cherry blossom forecast is set, every available weekend is set aside to have hanami parties. Anticipation runs high as well as nervousness that a rainy day or heavy wind will come by and ruin all the flowers.

Last year I got to enjoy the cherry blossoms quite a bit in various ways but only had one hanami party. Most of the flowers had been destroyed by rain when it actually came time to have the party. This year, I was in Hong Kong when they started blooming which made me feel anxious. I didn’t have enough time to appreciate them like I did last year by going to parks and whatnot just to stroll among them. However, I got one really good hanami party in this year. I would have had two really good ones if I wasn’t hung-over on the day of the second one (I’m still kicking myself over that) BUT, it was the first work enkai of the new year the night before, and that party basically makes or breaks your relationship with all your coworkers for the year, so it was important that I went hard that night.

Anyway, I’ll briefly explain my one good hanami party, the one I missed, and the one that simply turned into a BBQ because there were no flowers left.

The first hanami party took place the weekend after I got back from Hong Kong. The blossoms were in full bloom. It was a little chilly but overall not bad. Many of my friends gathered in Osaka Castle Park, and we shared snacks and drinks. Rachel made awesome cookies, onigiri, and sandwiches for everyone. Akira brought a bunch of alcohol to share. We were also next to the peach blossoms which was nice. What can I say really except that it was perfect? Everyone was quite tipsy (some were flat out wasted) and enjoying themselves, myself included. The flowers were gorgeous. After the party, we relocated to Balabushka and chilled there for quite some time. We drank and played pool, and I took care of one of my friends who drank too much. Joe and I had a dinner intermission at McDonalds. :P After that, we went to Jaws to dance until morning (well actually until about 4 am). I don’t know what it was about this time, but oh my god was it amazing! Everyone was dancing their hearts out, the music was fantastic, and it was overall just a perfect club experience of pure joy haha! No mishaps or anything. We went back to Balabushka to chill for like one more hour before first train. I was still riding a high from the dance club. I asked the staff to play my music, and they did! I was so happy, and I continued the dance party with Joe right in Balabushka bahaha! I’m pretty sure people thought were crazy (but there were hardly any people in their anyway at that time, and the staff are all my friends). It was just a perfect day.

Random people enjoying hanami.

Akira in charge of drinks.

We are enjoying Rachel's cookies.

This is how we do.

Such a beautiful place. :)

Group photo.

Giving the peach blossoms some photo time.

The next hanami party took place the following weekend on a Sunday. Like I said though, I didn’t make it because I was hung-over from my work enkai. It was really a shame I couldn’t make it to the hanami party because my friends were there and the weather and flowers were nice, but omg my work enkai! If you read my post called “My First Nomikai,” then you will be shocked to learn that my school put on an awesome party! I mentioned before that a bunch of young new teachers have come to my school. So now there are quite a few people who actually like to drink and party. I refuse to go into the details of my school enkai as an unspoken rule, but it was so crazy and fun! I don’t regret anything about that night…just the fact that I was hung-over the next day lol.

The last hanami party just turned into a regular BBQ party…well, I wouldn’t say regular, but in any case, there were no flowers because they all had fallen due to time, rain, and wind. At this party, there were around 70 people I’d say. I only knew like half of them. I got to the party kind of late because I unexpectedly stayed out dancing the whole night before. It was fine though. When I got there, people had already been eating and drinking for two hours or so. I wasn’t in the mood to drink because I was tired and drank the Friday and Saturday before (it was a Sunday). So basically I went there and watched my friends drink which was pretty amusing. Yuki got way too drunk though and passed out in my lap for a long time. I took care of him. Before that happened though, a dance party broke out in the park. There were so many other parties taking place in the park on this day too. I don’t know why. One party next to ours had a DJ playing awesome dance music! The people at that party were out of control! They called us over and started dancing with us in a very high energy way. There was a lot of jumping involved. I really liked that part of the day! I left around 6 pm before the party ended because I was tired, but it was definitely an interesting time.

BBQ crew.

That time when Yuki died.

Random dance party.

So ya, those are my hanami tales for this year. I guess it all kind of evens out because I had one awesome party, one I didn’t make it to, and one that ended up being just a regular party. I’m already looking forward to next year’s parties! Next time let’s shoot for three perfect ones!