Japan: Cherry Blossom Festival canceled due to overcrowding

EYou actually think that the point of celebrations is that guests come. And if there are a few more than planned – it’s not that bad. In the past, when friends brought friends with them to shared parties, and they might also have someone else in tow, then the pasta salad might not have been enough, but there were always enough drinks. So maybe you stayed hungry, but met a few likeable or otherwise interesting people. And you would have had to apologize to the neighbors the next day anyway, even if only those invited had shown up. Not having any more parties because a lot of people might come over – that never occurred to you.

Thinking a few sizes bigger: Imagine if Cologne, Mainz and Düsseldorf forego their carnival parades in the future because things are always so busy there. There will be no more harbor birthdays in Hamburg because there are fears that there will be a crowd at the jetty. The Oktoberfest in Munich is canceled because the visitor record was broken again last year. Unthinkable, right?

Certainly from a German perspective. In Japan, however, things are different. The city of Fujiyoshida has canceled the cherry blossom festival in the Arakurayama-Sengen Park there. Because the crowd is too big. Recently, 200,000 visitors have come, mainly because of the spectacular view from a specially built platform. People apparently waited up to three hours so that they could take a photo like everyone else with the flowers and the Chureito Pagoda in the foreground and Mount Fuji in the background.

A number of visitors passed the waiting time by smoking and throwing butts into the residents’ front gardens, then breaking into their houses to use the toilets (the more considerate ones relieved themselves in public spaces) and, when returning to the park, pushing schoolchildren off the sidewalks that they had already parked. The media quoted the mayor of Fujiyoshida, Shigeru Horiuchi, as saying that the cancellation of the festival was intended to “protect the dignity and living environment of the citizens.” The city only has 50,000 residents who simply feel overrun by visitors.

What’s left as a tourist? Alternatively, you can ignore the needs of the residents and still travel to Fujiyoshida, because the park remains open, only the festival is cancelled. Or increase the overcrowding at another cherry blossom festival in Japan. Alternatively, you can be modest and drive to the Altes Land or Lake Constance and marvel at the apple blossoms. And is happily waiting for a Japanese electronic toy to come onto the market in a kind of Tamagotchi revival in which you can garden a cherry tree.