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Tourists and locals enjoy ‘ephemeral’ Tokyo cherry blossoms

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Japanese Meteorological Agency declares country’s most common and popular ‘somei yoshino’ variety of cherry tree in full bloom in Tokyo.

TOKYO: Tourists and Japanese locals marvelled at Tokyo’s cherry trees on Monday at the peak of the annual blossom season that traditionally represents fresh starts but also life’s fleeting impermanence.

Crowds flocked to the city’s top locations to take photos and hold picnics under the elegant dark branches bursting with pink and white flowers, known as “sakura” in Japanese.

“Honestly it feels pretty amazing to be here. It’s honestly better than we expected. And it only comes around every once in a while and only for a short span of time,” Christian Sioting, a tourist from the Philippines, told AFP.

Tags:cherry blossomsflowersJapanJapanese Meteorological AgencySomei YoshinoTokyotourismtravelYasukuni shrine


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