Schweizer Alumni Hanami

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Swiss Alumni Hanami – an event with tradition

On Saturday, March 30, it was again time for the traditional “Swiss Alumni Hanami” event organized yearly by the Science & Technology Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan. This event has become a true tradition and is as old as the ETH Alumni Japan chapter or other Swiss alumni organizations present in Japan. As the name indicates, the participants are mostly alumni or exchange students from Swiss universities currently residing in Japan, most of them in the greater Tokyo area. A total of 21 people attended this year, among them 5 members of our ETH Alumni Japan Chapter, a number of ETHZ exchange students who arrived in Japan just very recently, as well as alumni from UZH, HSG and UNIL.

Hanami – the Japanese way to welcome spring

“Hanami”, which directly translated stands for “flower viewing”, is an old Japanese spring tradition to admire the beautiful and widespread cherry tree blossoms. In the most common way of celebrating this occasion, people gather in groups (e.g. family, students, and workplace collaborators) and sit together below cherry trees, while enjoying plenty of drinks and snacks brought along. In a densely populated city like Tokyo, it is often difficult to find available space at the most popular spots, in particular on weekends. People plan well ahead to get their group together on the day of full blossom. They rely on Japanese TV or one of the many internet sites, where the progress of the cherry blossom appearance front throughout the country is predicted with Japanese precision already several weeks ahead. Since the delicate cherry tree blossoms are only very short lived and easily vanish during wind and rain, choosing the right day is of utmost importance.

Perfect timing but unpredictable weather

The embassy staff responsible for organizing the event did a great job in selecting March 30, which nearly perfectly coincided with the full bloom of the cherry trees in the Tokyo area. The weather however, cannot be predicted weeks in advance and unfortunately, the forecast for the day looked quite dull just a few days ahead. For this reason, we had to decide to skip the flower viewing part of the event. Instead, we gathered in the early evening in an “izakaya”, a Japanese style restaurant where people enjoy drinks accompanied by small delicacies. Although we all would have liked to enjoy the cherry blossoms, it turned out to be a very good decision to meet indoors, since the day was extraordinarily cold for the season and rain moved in shortly after the start of the event.

Excellent opportunity to communicate

It is needless to say that the bad luck with the weather did in no way influence the mood at the event. The presumed cherry blossom highlight was rapidly forgotten. The long-time residents became engaged in lively discussions concerning their recent joys and sorrows around professional and private life in Japan, whereas the exchange student newcomers used the chance to collect firsthand information from the Japan veterans about customs and peculiarities of their host country or host institutions. Some of the Japanese participants particularly enjoyed the chance to refresh their knowledge of German language and to learn about recent developments at Swiss universities, since they hardly have the opportunity to do so during their daily work. However, the lingua franca of the evening was clearly English, reflecting the attendance of members from all parts of Switzerland, as well as international exchange students from ETHZ or other Swiss universities. The two and a half hours that the tables were reserved for us passed in no time and the spring 2019 edition of the Swiss Alumni Hanami came to an end.
In the name of all participants, I would like to thank the Science & Technology Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, in particular the ETH Alumnus and head of the office Thomas Meyer, for organizing this event and for sponsoring the drinks during the evening. I am sure that everyone is looking forward to spring 2020, when there will certainly be the next issue of this traditional event with perfect timing AND perfect weather for “Hanami”.