Sakura season is here again.
Moving south to north
Every year, Japan’s cherry blossoms first appear in February or March in Okinawa, southern Japan, before moving north to Hokkaido by early May.
They can start blooming as early as January, such as this year.
The blooming of bright cherry blossoms, otherwise known as Sakura, coincides with spring.
Even though the blossoming follows an upward shift from the South to the North of the archipelago, cherry blossoms in different parts of the country peak at different times.
Natural factors such as weather and unprecedented rainfall play a role.
Most Sakura flowers take a week to reach full bloom, and that the full bloom also lasts around a week.
Photo by Izu navi via Flickr Creative Commons
Kawazu, located in the Izu Peninsula, is home to a unique variety of sakura that blooms typically at the beginning of February.
The cherry blossoms, called Kawazuzakura, last for about a month, compared to the usual Sakura that blooms and wilts within one to two weeks.
Cherry blossoms flowering earlier in 2020 due to warm spring
According to the Japan Meteorological Corporation (JMC), the Sakura season is expected to arrive slightly later than last year.
For instance, cherry blossoms in Tokyo and Kochi start flowering on Mar. 19 this year, seven days earlier than normal, according to the meteorological office.
They will take about 27 days to reach full bloom.
JMC added that cherry blossoms in Tokyo are flowering earlier, since 2013.
In the North, the first bloom in Sapporo is expected to be on May. 5, about the same timing as last year's full bloom.
Overall, the cherry blossoms are flowering earlier than usual as the growth process is accelerated due to a warm spring.
Image via Japan Meteorological Corporation.
Here is a forecast of cherry blossoms in Japan in 2020:
Here's the first forecast of cherry blossoms on Jan. 9.
The dates might be adjusted in the second forecast at the end of January.
Image via Japan Meteorological Corporation.
| Location | Estimated date of first bloom | Estimated date of full bloom |
| Nagoya | Mar. 22 | Mar. 30 |
| Kagoshima | Mar. 25 | Apr. 5 |
| Nagasaki | Mar. 23 | Apr. 1 |
| Fukouka | Mar. 20 | Mar. 29 |
| Kobe | Mar. 25 | Apr. 3 |
| Hiroshima | Mar. 22 | Apr. 1 |
| Kyoto | Mar. 23 | Apr. 1 |
| Osaka | Mar. 25 | Apr. 1 |
| Shizuoka | Mar. 22 | Mar. 31 |
| Yokohama | Mar. 24 | Apr. 1 |
| Kanazawa | Apr. 1 | Apr. 7 |
| Tokyo | Mar. 19 | Mar. 27 |
| Nara | Mar. 27 | Apr. 3 |
| Niigata | Apr. 5 | Apr. 11 |
| Nagano | Apr. 9 | Apr. 14 |
| Fukushima | Apr. 5 | Apr. 10 |
| Sendai | Apr. 7 | Apr. 12 |
| Aomori | Apr. 23 | Apr. 27 |
| Akita | Apr. 16 | Apr. 21 |
| Morioka | Apr. 17 | Apr. 23 |
| Muroran | May. 6 | May. 11 |
| Hakodate | May. 1 | May. 4 |
| Sapporo | May. 1 | May. 5 |
If you are travelling to Japan in the upcoming weeks, you can also download the app "Sakura Navi" from App Store/Google Play for the Sakura forecast in 2020.
Top photo from JMC and Pixabay
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