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Earliest-ever cherry blossoms seen in Tokyo ( NHK WORLD News )
The first cherry blossoms of the year have been spotted in central Tokyo, the earliest-ever flowering recorded in the city.
The Meteorological Agency says a number of Somei-yoshino cherry trees at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine produced blooms on Saturday. The agency uses the shrine's cherry trees as a benchmark in announcing the start of the annual cherry blossom season.
The agency says 6 blossoms were confirmed at around 11 AM as temperatures rose over 14 degrees Celsius, higher than average.
The flowers are 15 days earlier than last year and the earliest ever since record taking began in 1953, tying the record set in 2002.
The cherries are expected to be in full bloom in about one week.
An agency official says it's nice to announce the long-awaited start of the cherry blossom season after such a cold winter.
Somei-yoshino cherry trees are already in bloom in Japan's southern regions of Kyushu and Shikoku with the earliest cherry blossoms on record observed in many places.