© 1987 Lawrence I. Charters
Off Duty, April 1987, pp. 8-9.
Cherry blossom season brings an air of relaxation to Japan, as everyone takes time out to enjoy the marvels of sakura.
Visitors soon realize that there are times when the average Japanese worker-widely portrayed as a workaholic — has little interest in doing anything productive. When the cherry blossoms begin to emerge, this hidden ability to malinger also starts blooming. Starting in Kyushu in late March, and ending in Hokkaido in early May, a rolling wave of lethargy sweeps the islands of Japan, and entire business districts have a sudden urge to abandon the office and spend the day in the park, drinking sake, singing songs, and looking at sakura — the cherry blossoms.
This is a popular time for American business leaders to visit Japan, and they always leave confused. Expecting to find scenes of bustling industry and hordes of diligent workers, they instead see empty offices, experience missed appointments and receive countless offers to join in the festivities. Hourly radio and television reports provide in-depth coverage of the cherry blossoms, while pink wrapping paper and decorations appear from nowhere, and only the trains and subways continue to run on time.
The cherry blossom symbolizes perfection and beauty — a fitting national flower for Japan. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from a print.
Everything returns to normal after a few days, but don’t miss out on this unique cultural phenomenon. Tokyo hotels are almost always packed, but if you call the New Sanno (military: 229-8111, commercial: 03-440-7871) and ask for a weekday booking, they may be able to squeeze you in. You can then use the hotel as a base of operations for viewing sakura.
Tokyo’s Ueno Park is a particularly good place to look at both the blossoms and the Japanese, as they look at the blossoms. Whole corporations gather under trees, sitting on blankets and pillows, and singing through battery-powered sound systems as they take turns serenading the blossoms. Sakura are traditionally associated with warriors, so the songs are often sad, mournful tributes to those who had their brief moment of glory, only to fall like the cherry blossoms and be blown away on the winds of history. If you forget to pack a lunch, don’t worry. You’ll probably be offered tons of food and sake — and be expected to take your turn at the microphone.
For those more interested in the blossoms themselves, Sasebo, Iwakuni and Yokosuka all have spectacular collections of trees in their city parks, which are rarely crowded. Nikko, Kakamura and Kyoto are particularly noted for their cherry trees, and attract large numbers of visitors. Check with base tours offices and the New Sanno Hotel desk for Nikko and Kyoto tours.
Right in the middle of cherry blossom season is Buddha’s birthday, April 8. It honors Siddhartha Gautama, the Nepalese prince born around 563 B.C., who rejected his royal heritage and went on to found one of the world’s oldest and largest organized religions. Buddhist temples everywhere hold colorful services at this time, featuring parades of children carrying flowers, and an interesting service in which a statue of the infant Buddha is baptized with a special sweet tea.
In contrast to these very dignified birthday ceremonies, honoring a man of peace, Kamakura hosts a much more lively festival on April 12 honoring Hachiman, the Shinto god of war. Sponsored by Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, founded a thousand years ago by the Minamoto warrior clan, the Kamakura Matsuri (Kamakura Festival) is probably the city’s most important yearly event.
When the Minamoto family named Kamakura as the headquarters for Japan’s first shogunate, or warrior-ruled government, it turned this onetime fishing village into the national capital, and made Tsurugaoka Hachimangu the most important shrine in the country. Ten centuries later, Hachimangu still dominates the city, and Wakamiya-oji, the cherry-tree-lined avenue leading from the shrine to the sea, is still the city’s lifeline.
Since this is both the cherry season and a major festival, don’t even think of trying to drive to Kamakura; take the train, or you’ll spend hours stuck in traffic jams. From Tokyo, board JNR’ s Yokosuka Line train heading south at Shinagawa or Tokyo Station, and from Yokosuka, board a Yokosuka Line train heading north. Get off at Kamakura Station and follow the crowd.
Japan shuts down from the end of April to the first week in May for “Golden Week,” a popular term for a string of three national holidays. The first is Tenno Tanja-bi, the emperor’s birthday, on April 29. This year, the longest reigning monarch in Japanese history will celebrate his 86th birthday, and if you visit Tokyo, you may even see him. The palace grounds are normally closed to the public, but on his birthday the emperor has made it a practice to open the gates and greet visiting crowds from a balcony.
The next festival is Kempa Kinembi, Constitution Day, on May 4, celebrating the formal adoption of Japan’s post-war constitution on May 3, 1947. This will be the 40th anniversary of one of the world’s most democratic institutions, marked by TV specials, political speeches and newspaper editorials. Like freedom-loving people everywhere, if the weather is good, the Japanese will go to the beach.
Golden Week comes to a close on May 5, with Kodomo no Hi, Children’s Day. Known until recently as Boy’s Day, the less discriminatory Children’s Day is celebrated with neighborhood sports festivals, shrines, temple visits (with the children often dressed in bright, beautiful kimonos) and presents. Rooftops everywhere sprout long, carp-shaped kites, one for each child, as part of a Japanese belief that the clever, tenacious and long-lived carp will pass on these traits to the children of the family.
Strangely enough, this is the perfect time for driving to Tokyo. Normally one of the worst places in the universe to drive, Tokyo’s streets and expressways are almost deserted during Golden Week, so if you’ve always harbored a peculiar desire to drive in the world’s largest city but didn’t feel suicidal, now’s the time to try.
Start making plans now if you want to see Kyoto’s Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival) on May 15, or Shimoda’s Kurofune Matsuri (Black Ship Festival) on May 16-17. The Hollyhock Festival is perhaps the oldest festival in the world, and one of the most important events in Japan, while the Black Ship Festival is a relative newcomer, celebrating Commodore Perry’s arrival in Japan with his “black ships” in the nineteenth century, opening Japan to contact with the west. Both festivals are very popular, so make your reservations now.