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Stores Cash in on Sakura Viewing Season without COVID Restrictions

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, March 23, 2023

With cherry blossom trees in full bloom in Tokyo, there has been a rush to sell various products for the first cherry blossom viewing season in four years without COVID-19 restrictions.

At department stores, alcoholic beverages that can be easily enjoyed while on the go and box lunches prepared with a wide variety of small, elaborate portions of foods are some of the products gaining popularity.

Sales of wine in plastic cups and canned goods have been increasing at the Daimaru Tokyo department store in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, since around the end of last week when cherry blossoms started to come into full bloom. To cope with the demand, the store has increased the number of products that are easy to eat and drink by about 20%, with cherry blossom viewers in mind.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
A box meal for cherry blossom viewing is also sold at the department store.

Reservations for take-out sushi and yakitori are said to have increased about 30% from the previous year at the Matsuya Asakusa department store in the city’s Asakusa district. The store is close to the Sumida River, which has a neighborhood area famous for cherry blossoms.

Related goods are also selling well. Discount store Don Quijote set up a special section with picnic sheets, paper cups and other products for cherry blossom viewing at some of its stores. The sales of picnic sheets were about three times higher than usual at some stores.

Research firm Intage Inc. estimates that the market for cherry blossom viewing-related products will generate sales of ¥210 billion this spring, about double what it was in the same season last year. “We are likely to see a change in the mode of restraint,” an Intage official said.