Night View or Daytime View? Which Sakura do you prefer?

Now the major kind of cherry blossoms, Someiyoshino, started falling in Tokyo area, "Hanami(seasonal flower viewing)" season passed its peak. People would be going to lose the festive feelings now. Since Hanami literally means seasonal flower viewing as I mentioned previously, it's okay to go Hanami for other flowers, for example, to go to see Azalea, which is going to bloom now. However, even though people do Hanami for other flowers, still Hanami for cherry blossoms is special for Japanese people among all flowers.

Probably the biggest reason would be because it has been the most beloved flower since old times. Also the season of Someiyoshino matches the start of a school year and a fiscal year. Thus Sakura (cherry blossoms) can bring excitement and a sense of a fresh start to Japanese people. People celebrate their kids entering a school under cherry blossoms and company people would have their welcome party for their new recruitments under cherry blossoms.

During cherry blossoms Hanami season, we can find food & drink stalls in many Popular Hanami spots such as big parks and riversides, and they look just like local festivals. Some Japanese love to go to these "festival-like Hanami spots" especially at night to have a party with a night view of Sakura as shown in the top row of the photos. At the same time some other Japanese love to go to quiet Hanami spots without stalls and they just want to enjoy taking a walk or having a picnic with lunch boxes under the trees as in the bottom row of the photos.

Thus depending on your preference, good Hanami spots are different. Well, Night time "Festival-like Hanami", and daytime "Picnic-like Hanami" or "Hanami walk", which kind of Hanami would you like the most?