KOCHI, March 17 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Cherry trees came into bloom in the cities of Kofu, Gifu and Kochi on Monday, ahead of other parts of Japan, the local meteorological observatories said, Kyodo News reported.
Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, reported its earliest bloom since records began in 1953. It came nine days earlier than last year and 10 days earlier than average.
The flowers in Gifu blossomed nine days earlier than the previous year and nine days earlier than average, while those in Kochi were six days earlier than the previous year and seven days earlier than average.
At around 10am, the specimen tree at Kochi Castle in the western Japan city was confirmed to have more than five blossoms -- the standard for declaring official flowering.
This is the third consecutive year Kochi has recorded the country's earliest bloom of the Somei Yoshino, the most common "sakura" variety.
An observatory official said low rainfall and long hours of sunshine contributed to Kochi's blooms, adding that full bloom is expected in about a week. -- BERNAMA-KYODO
