Tokyo goes crazy with its cherry blossoms

Spring officially arrived today Saturday in Tokyo where the National Weather Agency decreed cherry blossoms, triggering a flood of celebrations.

The weather agency’s experts, who are studying the cherry trees in Yasukuni temple, decided that the first flowers had appeared nine days earlier than the usual date.

For two weeks, the cherry blossom season is marked by a surge of pink and white in the streets, schools and temples, celebrating the arrival of spring.

« Mild temperatures in late February and early March accelerated the bloom of flower buds, » a weather agency official told reporters at Yasukuni Temple in central Japan’s capital.

The official arrival of spring in Tokyo made the headlines of the Japanese media and weather forecast companies competed in their predictions for other major cities in the country.

In Tokyo, the flowering will be at its peak within a week and will give place to multiple gatherings, sometimes well alcoholic, between family, friends and colleagues in the parks of the city.