conic cherry trees in Japan and the U.S. are blossoming earlier as climate change brings warmer temperatures, upending a fixture of the spring calendar in major cities., than Japan, and tourists from overseas often try to time their visits to see the delicate pink petals. The average date at which they start to bloom has moved up 1.2 days per decade since 1953, said Daisuke Sasano, a climate risk management officer at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
“The fact that Tokyo recorded the earliest start date is due to global warming, compounded with urbanization,” Sasano said, referring to the urban heat island effect, which causes cities to trap heat. Tokyo has warmed 3°C over the past century. Sakura flowers are greeted with much excitement in Japan. People gather in groups to have picnics, a centuries-old custom known asby an academic at Kansai University estimated the economic impact of the flowers last year to be 616 billion yen . Private weather data providers are also making a business out of predicting when the flowers will bloom.