Kyokuyo's annual cherry-blossom-admiring party was held on April 10 this year.

Being aware of the forecast released earlier by Japan Meteorological Agency, which expected cherry flowers to open on or around March 26, and reach full bloom at the beginning of April, we were all afraid that we would have to admire leaves, rather than lovely flowers. The organizing team, consisting of 2009 rookies, had no other option, though, as business trips and training programs prevented them to make it one week earlier.

The result was not perfect, but much better than expected. Surprisingly, the flowers were still in "gobuzaki" (50% open) state on that day, and we could enjoy gentle and warm weather of April. What was even better is that 5 new employees, who just finished their study in university in March, could join the party as "guest" (meaning : exempted from participation fees, but subject to labor service under the organizers' instruction).

The gathering started at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. While the company president and most of directors couldn't appear because of other appointments, we had over 70 people show up. It was a big party for a "hanami", with many employees (young workers in particular this year) and their family members, in addition to (true) guests enjoying BBQ, fried noodle and Bingo.

The writer was personally impressed by how many young people joined hands to make the party enjoyable. It was a fresh reminder to me that a company is passed along from one generation to another slowly and silently, as a Chinese poet of Tang Dynasty wrote : "Flowers bloom the same way every year, but people do not remain the same."