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Prettier in pink: The push to remake Japan’s cherry blossom season
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Pretty pink: The sekiyama cherry blossoms at a farm of the Flower Association of Japan in Yuki, northeastern Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. (AFP/Philip Fong)
J
em>Japan's famed cherry blossom season blankets the country in the delicate white flowers of the prized and popular somei-yoshino tree, delighting residents and visitors alike. But some want change.
The cherry blossom season produces a nationwide frenzy in Japan, as forecasters compete to declare when full bloom will arrive and people unfurl picnic blankets for sometimes raucous flower-viewing parties — at least in pre-pandemic times.
The blooms of the ubiquitous somei-yoshino strain, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the cherry trees planted in Japan, last only around a week and tend to emerge simultaneously in a given region because the trees are clones of a single specimen.
And while the tree has become synonymous with blossom season, it is a growing headache for city planners because the strain is prone to disease and tends to grow too large to be well managed in urban settings.
"It's all about planting the right flora in the right place," says Hideaki Tanaka, 63, an expert on sakura — Japanese for cherry blossoms — who is trying to popularize other strains.
"There are all kinds of sakura, not just somei-yoshino. I want to help recreate the old times when people enjoyed a wide variety.”
