Cherry trees came into bloom in the cities of Kofu, Gifu and Kochi on Monday, ahead of other parts of Japan, the local meteorological observatories said.Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, reported its earliest bloom since records began in 1953. It came nine days earlier than last year and 10 days earlier than average.The flowers in Gifu blossomed nine days earlier than the previous year and nine days earlier than average, while those in Kochi were six days earlier than the previous year and seven days earlier than average.At around 10 a.m., the specimen tree at Kochi Castle in the…READ FULL ARTICLE
