Hanami parties or picnics (literally to mean: 'flower viewing') is a really big thing here. Like, seriously mega where companies will send out their most junior employee sometime in the morning to go and reserve an area for evening festivities which involves eating and drinking under the Sakura Trees (essentially, the employee will wait by their reserved area for anything between 3 and 8 hours!). As the weather is only just warming up, it usually can still be very cold in the outdoors but this does not deter people from having these parties. They take them very seriously and with lots of enthusiasm. Likely, they are such a big things because it gives employees and friends an open space to relax and enjoy each other's company, it allows them to drink and with so many people's homes in such small confined spaces, the only other option is to be able to have these parties in parks or other such designated areas.

I was so happy to have organised one for work people and with almost a 100% attendance rate. We had lunch under the cherry trees by the Imperial Palace and we were lucky enough to get a spot to sit for an hour or so and just enjoy it. The weather wasn't the best - it was cloudy and it was a little bit cold but luckily, there was no rain! We had a nice time and it was great just to get together as a group since it doesn't happen so often (people love to keep to themselves here).

On the weekend, I visited Shinjuku Gardens and it was a pretty cold and gloomy day. Despite this, it seemed half of Tokyo was out to enjoy hanami!!! It was so crazy inside the garden even with an admission fee and no alcohol! Hats off to all the people who were there sitting in the cold (absolutely no sun!) and cool breeze and socialising. I had a short walk around, took a few photos and decided I was better off going home!