Through this tour, I learnt a lot more about cherry blossoms and the culture of hanami! In particular, this tour has spurred my desire to go to Toyota City to see their autumn foliage and cherry blossoms, and I would definitely want to go there when the Covid-19 situation has stabalised. The tour was interactive and the students engaged us in their discussions about various topics throughout the tour. I also got to know a little more about Japanese food that are not commonly eaten in Singapore, such as dango and mikan. As such, while more elaboration could have been made on the topic of Japanese food eaten in a hanami party, the tour was overall an enriching and fun experience!

Prior to going for this virtual tour, I have only heard that Cherry Blossom in Japan is a very beautiful scene but it last for only a very short while, there may even be a chance where you could book your ticket there but the cherry does not blossom. Therefore, the past few years, my Japan trips have mainly been going to temples, shrines and food streets. However, after the virtual tour today, I found out that the Cherry blossoms 4 times year, furthermore in the city of Toyota, the beautiful scene exist multiple times in a year. On top of which, I was introduced to the Hanami where at first glance was just a basic picnic. After knowing the significance of the Hanami where it is to take things slower and relax, spend time with your loved ones and friends, it really made me reflect on my own daily living. Here in Singapore, we lead a very fast-paced competitive life which makes taking things slowly quite hard to achieve. This tour really helped me to calm down from my normal hectic lifestyle and actually just spend time with friends with some comfort food. If there was one thing to improve for this tour, it would be the video quality whereby the English subtitles could be standardised at one side of the video and not be floating everywhere. Overall, an enjoyable experience.

The tour was really enjoyable and eye opening! It was presented by students who made short skits of the cherry blossoms in Japan and shared a little more about their food, culture and common practices. I was thoroughly impressed by the dedication and hardwork that was put into the planning and production. The videos were colourful and thoughtful as there were English captions that helped to make the information easier to process. Furthermore, the moderator and host were super friendly and encouraged us to speak freely. Whenever we have any comments or questions, they are always ready to answer our queries. I look forward to more amazing tours and interactions from them!