Japan's national 'sakura' flower blooms early amid warming temperatures

On average, Tokyo's cherry trees reach full bloom on April 2. This year, the capital's cherry blossom peaked on March 22, a day slower than the earliest logged in 2002.

People ride a boat looking at cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 30, 2021.
AFP

People ride a boat looking at cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 30, 2021.

Japan's famous cherry blossoms have reached their flowery peak in many places earlier this year than at any time since formal records started being kept nearly 70 years ago, with experts saying climate change is the likely cause.

Japan’s favourite flower, called "sakura", used to reach their peak bloom in April, just as the country celebrates the start of its new school and business year. Yet that date has been creeping earlier and now most years, the blossoms are largely gone before the first day of school.

This year, peak bloom was reached on March 26 in the ancient capital of Kyoto, the earliest since the Japan Meteorological Agency started collecting the data in 1953 and 10 days ahead of the 30-year average. Similar records were set this year in more than a dozen cities across Japan.

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AFP

People looks at cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 30, 2021.

Effects of climate change

Some say it is the earliest peak bloom ever based on records from historic documents, diaries and poetry books from Kyoto. Osaka Prefecture University environmental scientist Yasuyuki Aono, who tracks such documents, said the earliest blooms he has found before this year were March 27 in the years 1612, 1409 and 1236, though there are no records for some years.

"Our studies have shown that the start of cherry blossom season is closely linked with the average temperature in February and March," Shunji Ambe, a Japan Meteorological Agency official, told AFP.

"Our observations of plant life show that spring phenomena (such as cherry and plum blossoms) tend to take place earlier, while autumn phenomena are delayed," he said in an email on Wednesday.

“We can say it’s most likely because of the impact of the global warming.”

On average, Tokyo's cherry trees reach full bloom on April 2. This year the capital's cherry blossom peaked on March 22, a day slower than the earliest logged in 2002.

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A man poses his dog in front of cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 30, 2021.

Centuries-long culture

The agency tracks 58 “benchmark” cherry trees across the country, and this year 40 of those already have reached their peak bloom and 14 have done so in record time. The trees normally bloom for about two weeks each year from first bud to all the blossoms falling off.

Cherry trees are sensitive to temperature changes and the timing of their blooming can provide valuable data for climate change studies, Anbe said.

According to the agency data, the average temperature for March in Kyoto has climbed to 10.6 degrees Celsius in 2020 from 8.6 C in 1953. So far this year's average March temperature in Japan has been 12.4 C.

Sakura have deeply influenced Japanese culture for centuries and regularly been used in poetry and literature with their fragility seen as a symbol of life, death and rebirth.

Japan's sakura or cherry blossom season is feverishly anticipated by locals and visitors alike, although this year foreign tourists have been kept away by virus border restrictions.

It is traditionally celebrated with hanami, or viewing parties, with picnics, and sometimes boozy festivities, organised beneath the trees.

But this year gatherings have been discouraged to reduce the spread of coronavirus cases.

READ MORE: Russia witnessed record-high average temperatures in 2020

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