Japan’s official Cherry Blossom Spotters on Monday confirmed the first flower of the country’s favorite flower and explained the official start of the festive season in the Japanese capital.
An official from the Japanese Meteorological Agency carefully examined the specimen tree of the Yoshino variety in the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo and announced that more than five flowers – the minimum required for the announcement – bloomed on it.
According to JMA, the opening corresponded to the average year and was five days earlier than in the previous year.
Cherry blossoms or “Sakura” are Japan’s favorite flower and usually climax at the end of March to early April, just like the country celebrates the beginning of a new school and a new financial year. Many Japanese walks or picnic under the trees.
Sakura has deeply influenced Japanese culture for centuries and was regularly used in poetry and literature, with its fragility being seen as a symbol of life, death and rebirth.
The announcement in Tokyo, which enjoys warmer temperatures of around 19 ° C, is confirmed only one day after the country’s first cherry blossom was bloomed on Sunday in the southwestern city of Kochi on the island of Shikoku.
The JMA pursues more than 50 “benchmark” cherry trees across the country. The trees usually bloom about two weeks every year, from the first bud to all flowers. It is expected to reach their peak in about 10 days.
Cherry trees are sensitive to temperature changes, and the time of their flower can provide valuable data for climate change studies.
In recent years, the Japanese cherry blossom season has been earlier than the average, which led to considering the possible effects of climate change.
