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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a cherry blossom viewing party at Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo. About 14,000 guests attended, including leading figures from the culture and art world, as well as the sports world.

Standing before the guests, the Prime Minister said in his address,
“Our target for this year is to ensure that everyone throughout the country experiences the current economic recovery firsthand.
Thanks to all of you, the economy has in fact gradually been improving, with this year being better than last year, and last year better than the year before that.
Looking at the ratio of job offers to job seekers, this figure has finally risen over 1.0. It had dropped to as low as 0.42 after the global financial crisis. That meant that, under those conditions, there was only half a job offer available for every job seeker. Now we have finally been able to create a situation where one job offer is available for every job seeker. In addition, everyone’s wages have been gradually rising.
I asked many managers to ‘please raise wages from this April’ and I am sure that many of the managers who are in attendance today have kindly done so.
According to figures from the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO), wages will rise by an average of 6,491 yen. This is a wage rise that we have rarely seen in recent years. I very much hope to further spread the effects of the economic recovery all across the country.
The Prime Minister then toured the garden with guests, shaking hands with people, and joining in commemorative photographs.