Japan’s cherry blossom season is arriving earlier than usual, a shift experts increasingly link to climate change.
In 2026, Tokyo reported its first blooms on 19 March, five days earlier than on average years.
In fact, the popular pink season already started on 16 March in the cities of Kofu, Gifu and Kochi, according to the local meteorological observatories.
This would be the earliest bloom for Kofu since records began in 1953. The blossoms bloomed nine days earlier than 2024, and 10 days earlier on average.
In Kyoto, the peak cherry blossom in 2025 happened on 4 April.
Hokkaido, typically the last stop for the sakura season in Japan, saw cherry blossoms on 28 April last year.
Announcement of the first bloom is methodical.
In Tokyo for instance, a sample tree of the "Somei Yoshino" variety at Yasukuni shrine serves as the Japan Meteorological Agency’s official blooming reference in the capital. There must be five or six blooms before officials confirm the start of the cherry blossom season.
Blossoms usually take a week to reach its peak blooming stage, although that could be accelerated if temperatures remain high.