SSAJ conducted its hanami at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo on April 6th. We thank the weather (well not for the later half) for allowing us to conduct the event.
Grabbing a spot was easier than expected. At 7am-ish, I somehow managed to get a spot close to a tree that was still at full bloom, and was quickly joined by Cao Lei, Shu Shien and Liang Cheng. At the end of the day, the early bird catches the worm. By noon, most members gathered and some simple self-introduction (自己紹介 jiko-shoukai) started the talking, eating and drinking.
We consider ourselves lucky to still have the sakuras blooming (it was already past the supposed full bloom (満開 mankai) day), and enjoyed the flower-viewing thoroughly. Furthermore, the strong winds brought about really huge sakura blizzards （桜吹雪 sakura-fubuki）, and we got to feast our eyes on the surge of petals dancing in front of us. You have to be there to see the movie-like scenery, and to feel the…um… sentimentalism involved.
We had to call it a day after the thunder started to rumble here and there towards the end. But we had a great time catching up once again. Some talking (and ranting) with fellow Singaporeans always helps release some stress, and a chance to share some new resolutions for the year (that begins in April). This will be EXCO 2013-2014’s last event for the year. We are looking forward to the fresh new committee of EXCO 2014-2015, and of course, the events they will organize next year. Thank you for the wonderful year SSAJ, and see you at the AGM sometime next month!
Matthew