Tea Leaves
The spring “hanami” festival can be chaotic, but there’s a reason it’s endured for centuries
People gather beneath cherry blossoms in a Tokyo park for “hanami,” a centuries-old tradition celebrating the arrival of spring. © Getty Images
It is 9 p.m. The sun set long ago, and I am sitting on a blue plastic sheet on hard ground, shivering. Luckily, someone in my group brought a couple of heat packs, which we’re passing around as we pick at potato chips and down cans of lukewarm chuhai, a flavored cocktail, and paper cups of oolong tea. Above us is a tree, bowing its flowery branches in our direction.
AloJapan.com