Climate Change Threatens Japan's Cherry Blossoms

If you aren't familiar with the culture, Japan's passion for cherry blossoms might be hard to grasp. Let's just say that hanami, the annual "viewing of cherry blossoms," is kind of like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale all rolled into one: Just about everyone in the populous country, young and old, gathers together in the company of friends, family, and/or coworkers, spreads out blue tarps under the cherry trees, and enjoys the ambience while eating and drinking ... a lot.

Now, though, this idiosyncratic and ancient Japanese tradition is in danger from a 21st century threat: climate change.

According to the Japan Meteorological Society, Japan's cherry blossoms have been blooming earlier than usual for the last five years. In 2009, the cherry blossoms bloomed five days ahead of schedule, and a week earlier than the average arrival for the last three decades of the 20th century. This year's cherry blossom season beat last year's by an extra day.

The JMA believes that a rise in global temperatures is one of the key elements prompting cherry trees to bloom too early. Radiant heat from urbanization could contribute to the early blooming as well, but the organization believes that further study is needed.

Just why does the arrival of cherry blossoms cause such a ruckus? Well, in the Japanese culture, cherry blossoms herald the arrival of spring, traditionally blooming in the second half of March. But with this event occurring earlier and earlier each year (and bear in mind that, because of the cultural passion for cherry blossoms, blooming dates have been fastidiously kept for at least 600 years), the season itself is effectively in flux.

Cherry blossom viewing parties come in all shapes and sizes, from the demure to the raucous. When I lived in Japan back in 2000, I lounged around with friends and found myself browsing carnival kiosks that offered children's games and hot food. I also found myself dodging drunken revelers who chased each other through the public park stark naked!

But beneath the delirium that sometimes results when a highly intense people get a chance to unwind and enjoy the great outdoors, cherry blossom viewing represents a serious and even poignant celebration of the natural world's transitory and delicate beauty. That's the reason why the early blooming has so many Japanese citizens alarmed, even cuckoo, in a Frankenstein/Pet Sematary-like way: A team of physicists and engineers at the RIKEN Nishina Center in Saitama Prefecture, for example, are breeding a "Godzilla" cherry tree hybrid that can bloom in all four seasons.

Sound extreme? Well, that's just how passionate the Japanese are about cherry blossoms. (The Nishina Center is basically using technology like CERN's Large Hadron Collider: Yikes!)

Nobuyuki Asada, a member of the Japan Cherry Blossom Association, warned that with the change in temperatures and the shifting of the blooming into the rainy season, there may not be any cherry trees blooming at all in 50 or 100 years.

How many cultural and natural wonders need to be threatened before real, effective global action to arrest climate change is taken? One can only hope that warning signs like this one will inspire more folks to join the fight — against climate change, not for genetic engineering!

Photo Credit: Josh Berglund