Hanami in Tokyo: Viewing people viewing cherry blossoms

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This past weekend was full of Tokyo and cherry blossom viewing (known as hanami in Japanese). What started as an emperor's private party under the sakura (cherry blossom) trees hundreds of years ago, eventually evolved into a national tradition of celebration involving copious amounts of alcohol, food, and friends. The sakura only remain in bloom for two weeks, so once they arrive, people gather for a picnic of epic proportions amidst the snowy branches of their favorite park. We decided to stroll through the large Shinjuku Park during our Tokyo wanderings on Saturday to peek at the renowned collection of sakura located there. This park does not allow the consumption of alcohol on the premises, but many people still gathered to picnic. I was floored by the sheer amount of people and their tasty looking bento box lunches. The cherry trees did not disappoint, they were magical and significantly larger than most I normally see around the region. It was difficult to pause to have a moment of reflection due to the surrounding rivers of people, but the low, constant roar of human chatting was exciting and almost comforting. I love that here in Japan, the simple beauty of a flower is enough reason to party.

After Shinjuku, we made our way to lunch at a ramen place called Bassanova near the Shin-daita station. I enjoyed a bowl of green curry ramen that included succulent slices of pork which tasted better than bacon itself and an egg with golden runny yolk. It was to die for, as you read this I'm craving one right now actually. Next, we continued on to explore the hipster-like streets of Shimokitazawa, an area known for it's secondhand vintage clothing stores. After the ramen gorge fest we decided to grab a caffeine fix at Bear Pond Espresso, a small shop known for artistic espresso designs and quality roasting. For a short time, I wandered the aisles of clothing and hand-made jewelry picking up a few gifts and a cute pair of earrings made with a colorfully decorated button and hot glue gun for 700 yen that I couldn't pass up. There were neatly folded piles of vintage t-shirts with old western-style product brands plastered across them, most of which you could find at a thrift shop in America for $3-$5 but costs at least $20 or more here in Japan. I hope to come back here and spend a few more hours browsing.

We headed to Koenji where a few of the people in my group had previously discovered a back alley brewery/bar by luck and aid of the friendly English-speaking Japanese cafe owner of El Pato. The Koenji brewery was brightly lit with groups of Japanese people enjoying their beers in a neatly wooden room. We enjoyed multiple cups of two types of cream ale, strong ale, and a blonde ale. To round off our night, we stopped at El Pato, a restaurant with American-style food that Kyoshi (sp?), the owner, prepares based on the years he lived around the United States. I had the best BLT ever, which included a healthy topping of freshly sliced avocado and a couple of beers (IPA and a Hawaiian Kona ale), while my friends put down some nice-looking cheeseburgers. I especially enjoyed the music that Kyoshi was streaming over his ipad from the KCRW radio station based in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.

I awoke early on Sunday due mostly to excitement for the day's festivities and the fact that I had resigned my picnic contributions to making tamagoyaki (Japanese style omelet) sushi rolls. By 11am I had made a decent size mess, but accomplished the handmade rolls which contained spicy shirasu (larval sardines), cucumber, avocado, and tamago. My sexy, male sous chefs sliced and packaged the rolls along with a few other snacks and stuffed as much beer as possible into their backpacks before setting off to Yoyogi Park in the Harajuku area of Tokyo for some hanami. Yoyogi is a hugely popular park for people watching, where groups of entertainers often perform eclectic dance routines and young people dressed in absurd fashions hang about. The park grounds' hosts 500 cherry trees and no laws against imbibing alcohol in public, and therefore becomes a prime party stop for hanami celebrating. As it was at Shinjuku Park the previous day, just about every space of lawn was covered in small areas of blue tarps where revelers had staked out their spots. It was like the largest block party ever. Japanese people love to drink and this was no exception. There were coolers of chu-hi (strong drink), sake, bottles of wine, random bottles of liquor, and of course cold beer. We witnessed more than one person drink themselves into states of alcohol poisoning, their friends holding open plastic grocery bags under their faces in an attempt to contain their vomit.

But I digress, after finding our friends amidst the masses around 2pm, we decided to use a restroom before sitting down to our own beer and food. I literally waited 30 minutes in line to use the bathroom. By the time I returned to our tarp, I was downright thirsty for a frosty beverage and proceeded to drink three cans of Coors Light along with a delicious smorgasbord of snacks that included some instant pumpkin soup and sweet steaming rice dessert via camping stove that a fellow Japanese picnicker was kind enough to share. Shortly after this, I realized I would have to return to the endless bathroom line. After waiting 15 minutes in a line that didn't seem to be moving much, my situation became rather desperate and I made the decision to lose my place in line to explore other, hopefully quicker options. I ran around trying to find a shorter line for about 5 minutes or so before changing my strategy to finding a hiding place where I could squat before I ended up peeing all over myself. I finally spied some trucks parked along a row of bushes so, trying my best not to look too suspicious, I quickly walked behind them to relieve myself. I was able to pull my pants up just milliseconds before a man came around the corner, where I quickly escaped eye contact and hurriedly proceeded in the opposite direction. I really hope that wasn't his truck. Afterwards, I decided to get back in a bathroom line and wait again, this time more comfortably. When I finally returned to our picnic, I did not want to relive that experience, so I resigned to sobriety for the remainder of the day in lieu of my poor bladder. My fellow picnickers were all men, so they could easily urinate outside, against the wall of the bathroom building without having to wait in line.

As sunset approached, the park attendees continued to drink and the party raged. There were random rave dancers, and hilarious drunken feats that normally require a significant amount of hand-eye coordination, including tree climbing, jumping rope, frisbee tossing, and badminton. When my friends went for a walk around the park they saw a dog riding (and self-propelling) a skateboard and fully-clothed people swimming in a nearby pond (along with one who had ridden his bike into it). Not to be left out of the games, my group began to toss a frisbee around, the first toss of which landed well off course directly in the middle of a group of Japanese picnickers enjoying beer on their tarp. The frisbee took out at least 3-4 drinks and soaked their tarp, in an effort to make amends we helped mop some up and offered to replace their beers. It was an absolutely humorous gaijin moment. After a short respite, more space opened up around us and we continued our throwing, this time with better results and even attracting random roaming groups of Japanese people that joined in from time to time. When approaching darkness killed the frisbee game, we decided to pack up, dispose of our trash on one of the many 7-8 foot tall mountains of garbage, and stroll around before heading back home. Amidst the remaining revelers, we spotted at least 9 people that were in various states of unconsciousness, passed out in the middle of the walkway in the arms of friends, wrapped in a tarp laying next to the curb with only a pair of boots sticking out, propped up against the trunk of a tree, and huddled at the top of a staircase with head in hands swaying dangerously. For once, I didn't much mind being the only one sober, because there were so many entertaining things to see. They really should redefine hanami to 'viewing people viewing cherry blossoms'.

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