Employees who consider the cherry blossoms as a work event appear to disagree with the general consensus that seeing the cherry blossom in Japan is a must-do activity in April.
In addition, the research arm of Tokyo-based employment consultancy Laibo Inc., Job Soken, recently launched an online survey to find out how Japanese workers feel about “hanami,” or witnessing cherry blossom at work. About 60% of respondents to the study, which included 606 respondents in their 20s to 50s, said they would prefer not to participate in such activities because they perceived them as “work.”
Furthermore, the findings showed that even in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there still appears to be a strong desire to prevent workplace hanami incidents.
The most often given reason for not wanting to participate in hanami was “I want to prioritize my private life,” according to 51.4% of respondents. The next choices were “I don’t want to use my day off” (47.6%) and “I am tired of paying attention to others” (40.5%).
Age-group analysis revealed that respondents in their 40s were the most likely to “do not want to participate” in hanami with their coworkers, at 69.5%, while respondents in their 20s were the least likely, at 55.3%. This suggests that younger generations are generally more likely to attend these kinds of events. The percentages for those in their 30s and 50s were 60.5% and 60.3%, correspondingly.
The Mainichi reported that Masakazu Hori, head of Laibo’s communication strategy department, stated that many working people are tired of interacting with others at work through hanami.
