Japan’s Cherry Blossom Tradition Tests Rookie Employees · Global Voices
Among the thousands of people that fill Japan's parks every spring to picnic under the delicate pink cherry blossoms, known as sakura, are young professionals. They are new recruits sent by their bosses to reserve a spot for the company's outdoor feast, and are sometimes made to sit for hours well into the night guarding the location.
The blooming of the cherry blossom trees in Japan in early spring coincides with the beginning of the Japanese business year, and it is tradition to test new employees with this task.
<PERSON> at Yoyogi Park. Photo by <PERSON> (CC BY 2.0)
Twitter user <PERSON> (‏@MameBroth) wrote about the thankless job on his account on March 20, 2013:
‏@MameBroth: 新人が花見の場所取りをします。ですが仕事には納期があります。なのでノートパソコンを持たされます。場所取りしながらコーディングします。夜になります。誰も来ません。会社に連絡すると「クソ忙しいのにいけるわけねえだろ！」と怒られます。まだ冷える寒い夜に一人ぼっち。なんと悲しいことか。
‏@MameBroth: I am taking place for hanami spot as a new employee. But I have to meet a product deadline so they told me to bring a laptop computer. I do coding while reserving the spot. Night comes on. Nobody has come yet. 925
I call the office. I get yelled at over the phone, “What make you think we can come? We are busy as hell!”. All alone on a chilling night. How sad is this.
The tradition of new hires reserving a picnic spot for their companies is part of the larger annual tradition of hanami where friends and families hold feasts under the flowering trees and enjoy sake and beer. Companies also organize hanami, and often cases, the new employees are being evaluated based on how good they conduct the hanami party.
Why is this a new employee’s job? In online resource site All About, writer <PERSON> stated [ja] that the task is a way for new recruits to prove their workplace skills:
もしあなたが幹事なら、場所を確保し、お酒の調達をするだけではあまりにも無難すぎます。なぜなら花見の準備は、仕事の手際や仕切りに通じます。酒宴の準備とは、すなわちあなたの手腕が、こっそりと上司や先輩に試されているということでもあるのです。
If you are responsible for your company's hanami party, simply reserving a spot and procuring liquors are not good enough.The skill of preparing hanami is associated with management skill and neat work. Your bosses and seniors are surreptitiously evaluating your capability through your skill of preparing the feast.
This year, the Japan Meteorological Agency announced cherry blossoms reached full bloom on March 22 in Tokyo, the second earliest since the weather agency began taking statistics in 1953.
With the early arrival of the full bloom of cherry blossoms this year, Twitter users wondered if the new employees’ first task would be affected. The blooming period is very short, and company hanami parties are supposed to be held in April. 925