Japan without sakura? The usual variety is dying (6 photos)

The climate is changing across the planet, but it's sad to learn that warming temperatures will lead to the demise of the wonderful tradition of cherry blossom viewing as we know it. At this rate of warming, the most popular variety of sakura will not exist within a couple of generations.





Will Sakura die out?

No, of course, not all. It will be possible to switch to other, wild cherry colors. Moreover, non-urban varieties cope well with climatic shocks.

But Japan is already experiencing the second warmest winter in its history. And such climate change will mean that in some regions the most famous cherry blossom variety will become extinct by 2100.



This is the same variety with low spreading branches with pink flowering

It is a cultivar of the Somei-Yoshino cherry in Miyazaki, Nagasaki and Kagoshima Prefecture on Kyushu Island, the southernmost main Japanese island of Kyushu (where Tokyo is located).

The fact is that this cherry variety goes into hibernation, which is stimulated by cold weather during the winter months. During this time, the tree “restarts” its cycle. And if the temperature in the flowering regions does not stay below 5 degrees Celsius for a long time, the trees will not survive the hibernation stage and cannot bloom.





A rare shot, in fact, in Japan these days there is no crowding in the park

Why panic now?

The difficulty is that thermal models are only hypothetical. Everyone knows that the climate is warming, but the question is: for how long and how quickly? That is, if the sakura don’t bloom soon, they need to be dug up and replaced with other, wilder varieties.

At the same time, do this gradually, by a certain percentage of trees per year, so that the parks are not left bare. Moreover, not all trees will take root immediately.

What if warming slows down? It turns out that millions of yen will be wasted. Japan doesn't have the kind of economy right now to afford such spending.



Cherry blossoms are the only thing that is equally beautiful in anime and in reality.

“In the southern part of Koshu, the cherry trees are NO LONGER blooming properly because they did not get at least a month of cold weather during the winter,” says Naoko Abe, author of the book “Cherry Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Flowers.”

There are heat-loving varieties of cherries, but the whole question is that Japan is not planted with them at all. It turns out that one generation will have to live without the tradition of flowering while new trees grow?



Absolutely unreal landscapes just a few days a year. Beauty is elusive

This year the cherry blossoms came quite early. The first trees bloomed on the Okinawa island of Miyakojima on January 5, 12 days earlier than last year. And this is also not the best “bell” for the second year in a row. In Tokyo, too, flowering will occur 4 days earlier than last year. And 50 years ago, flowering regularly occurred on April 6, half a month earlier.

Why is everyone so clingy to this particular cherry?

Because the Somei-Yoshino variety blooms before the leaves appear. This creates the effect of such a completely pink tree, which is so admired in Japanese sakura.



I haven’t seen this alley, I really want to walk along it. But will I have time in my lifetime?

In Japan, there are thousands of traditions and signs associated with the beginning of cherry blossoms. For example, fishermen knew it was time to go fishing when the petals fell on the water. And the petals irrigating the fields were a signal to farmers to sow them.