In Japan, hanami is the time in spring when the cherry blossom bloom in which millions of Japanese people such as, Kaishyain(company employees), families, friends, students, and even tourist come to Japan to see and enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and have a picnic underneath the trees to drink and socialize. It is a old traditional custom for Japan to flower watch the cherry blossoms, and from my experience in going to Kyoto to Kyomizudera, I can see why. The cherry blossoms bloom in Japan from mid-Januaury to early May, starting from the lower regions of Japan like Kyuushyu and then, it works it way up throught the main land until the top.
The origin of hanami started when "Emperor Saga of the Heian Period adopted this practice, and held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the blossoming boughs of sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Poems would be written praising the delicate flowers, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral. This was said to be the origin of hanami in Japan." (1)
When I went to Kyoto, I noticed on the trail to the actual temple, there were many stands with people selling sweets, and ice-cream, various types of foods to yukata and kimono and charms. Most of these stands where colored with pink and green decorations which were colors that symbolized spring in Japan. When I reached the temple, and after I paied 500yen ($5.00 dollars) for the entrance ticket, there were thousands of people who were walking around taking photos of the beautiful scenery of lit up cherry blossom trees. In that particular place, drinkin sake was not allowed, however people were socializing with each other, taking a lot of pictures, praying at the temple, and just enjoying the scenery. There were people of all ages and from all different places from Japan. There was a couple of times I heard Okayama-ben(Japanese dialect from Okayama) and regular Kanto-ben (standard Japanese)and of course Kansai-ben(Japanese dialect from the Kansai area). There were also a good amount of forigeners sprinkled about which also varied from old to young. After you enter the temple and finish walking around its many paths of beautiful cherry blossom trees and reach the end of the trail, the exit from the temple leaves you back to the many stands that littered the paths leading back to the temple. Hanami is a very visually inspiring and breathtaking event that I would recommend even people who live in different coutnries, to come to Japan and witness at least one time in their lives.
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami
(2) first picture taken from: http://chip.lv/onelife/uploads/2008/03/cherry_blossom_.jpg
