Cherry blossoms emerge in the spotlight

CHERRY blossoms flowered in Tokyo and two other prefectures in Japan, the first of this season, the Japan Meteorological Agency said yesterday. The emergence of the delicate, pale pink blooms is a national obsession, the focus of close media attention during the month or so it takes for the "cherry front" to move from south to north.

The cherry blossoms, or Sakura in Japanese, opened in Tokyo and Shizuoka prefecture six days earlier than usual, while blossoms in southern Japan's Kumamoto prefecture flowered two days earlier, the agency said.

A spokesperson said recent warm days had helped speed up the opening of those cherry blossoms.

The announcement is made when five or six blossoms are observed on "benchmark" trees.

In Tokyo, the benchmarks are several ancient trees in the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine to the war dead.

People crowd parks to eat and drink beer and sake as they admire the blossoms in often raucous 'hanami' (flower-viewing) parties.