Cherry Blossom Festival in Tokyo: The Chiyoda City Sakura Matsuri 2019
As the flowers started to bloom on the many cherry blossom trees in central Tokyo, JTB Communication Design (JCD) teamed up with Chiyoda City Tourism to manage the onsite operation, light-up, decoration and security detail of the yearly Sakura Matsuri. In English "sakura" means “cherry blossoms”.
Event Details
When: March 27 – April 7 2019 Where: Chidorigafuchi-ryokudo Walkway and the Chidori-ga-fuchi Moat in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo Total visitors: Over 1.2 million visitors Staff in charge: Takeya Ida and Mayu Sekino (JCD, cooperated with the JTB team)
The festival, celebrating the coming of spring with the beautiful pink cherry blossoms, took place at a 700-meter-long lush walkway along the moat of the Imperial Palace, widely known as one of the top cherry blossom spots in Tokyo.
It makes it the perfect location to celebrate spring in Japan’s capital city, and JCD worked closely together with the local Chiyoda City Tourism to make the 2019 edition of the festival a celebration of life, nature and Japanese culture.
Professional Lighting and Decoration
For the festival, the main attraction point was for visitors to experience the cherry blossoms in their most beautiful form, both day and night. The 700-meter Chidorigafuchi-ryokudo Walkway was lit up with state-of-the-art equipment to make the flowers shine bright during the night time, bringing a beautiful sight to behold. As this would be an essential part of the event’s success, JCD brought in an experienced team of technicians that set out to create a living canvas of the sea of flowers.
For the festival`s decoration and signage, JCD used its professional skill to place clear and sufficient signage for the attendees to guide them through the large festival area. As the festival was spread out over a 700 meter area, attendees can get lost easily, and clear signage was of the essence.
Top-notch Security
For an event as big as this, security has to be well organized. JCD made sure that the best security detail would be available for the full duration of the festival, and everybody was at the place they had to be at the right time.
When part of the onsite operation procedure, we at JCD make sure that security is arranged into the fine details.
Festival Goods
As part of the operation, JCD took on the task of managing the stalls specialized in selling the officially licensed festival goods. We were requested to bring together a team that during the 10 days of the festival worked together with the local governmental office to organize the sales of the colorful goods.
Comments from our JCD Staff
Mayu Sekino (see her staff page here)
1. What were you in charge of during this event?
"I was in charge of the following tasks:
・ Arrangement and construction of necessary materials, management on the day.
・ Management of operation staff and and the operation headquarters.
・ Management of the Light-up.
・ Supporting management of security arrangements."
2. What were some of the challenges you faced with managing this event?
"This Cherry Blossom festival has a long history, but this was the first time for the client to outsource the overall management.
The event is highly recognized in Tokyo and all over Japan, and visitors from home, as well as in and outside of the ward and even abroad, have high expectations every year. Leaving the result of such a loved festival to us was a big step for the client to take, and a major challenge for us.
By accepting this challenge, we went to work carefully to make sure everything went as it should; we proceeded step by step while carefully checking the successful factors of past editions of the event. While doing so, we utilized our own strengths and knowledge of experiences with large events like this. While keeping everything in balance, I coordinated with clients and suppliers till the start of the festival to provide a smooth and successful operation."
What can JCD do for you?
JCD offers a wide variety of services to meet your needs.
Next to the management of the above described festival, we can manage your events, meetings, and conferences using our professionals from different fields for both the operational as the technical side of your event.
Our main goal is always to satisfy our client. We want to bring life to a spectacular event.
In the case of the Sakura festival, as enjoying the cherry blossoms is an unmissable part of the Japanese culture, we aimed at bringing out the best and most beautiful side of the flowers both day and night.
By operating this festival which is vital for the branding of the area, and raising the level of visitor satisfaction, we maximized the tourism materials provided by the Chiyoda Ward to the fullest.
Most of all we made sure that everything was lit up perfectly so that the beauty of the flowers wouldn’t get lost in the darkness of the night.
With over 1,2 million people attending, the festival was a large success, bringing the hanami (flower viewing) experience to a next level of enjoyment.
