Tokyo cherry trees bloom earliest on record ahead of other regions

Cherry trees came into bloom on Tuesday in Tokyo, matching the earliest time on record since observations began in 1953, and ahead of all other regions in the country, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The "Somei Yoshino" variety at Yasukuni Shrine used for the agency's observations blossomed the same day in 2020 and 2021. They are expected to be in full bloom within around a week.An agency official found 11 blooming buds on the sample tree in the shrine's grounds at around 2 p.m., surpassing the threshold for declaring the tree's blooming for Tokyo. The declaration came 10 days earlier …READ FULL ARTICLE