Cherry blossom record has a new guardian

Visitors gathering beneath cherry blossoms at Ueno Park in Tokyo. The remarkable catalogue of dates is one of the longest-running records of climate change. — Kentaro Takahashi/The New York Times

FOR more than 1,200 years, Japanese noblemen, monks and bureaucrats have carefully recorded one of the most eagerly awaited days of the year – when cherry blossoms bloom in the ancient capital, Kyoto.

In recent years, a climate scientist, Yasuyuki Aono, has been the keeper of this trove of dates, one of the world’s most remarkable and longest-running climate records.