A cherry blossom opened on March 19 on a Somei-Yoshino tree under watch at Osaka Castle Park's Nishinomaru Garden in Osaka s Chuo Ward Nobuhiro Shirai OSAKA - Osaka s cherry blossom season officially started on March 19, tying the earliest record for the flowers set in 2021, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The agency's Osaka Regional Headquarters earlier in the day confirmed that blossoms had opened on a Somei-Yoshino cherry tree at Osaka Castle Park that has been used to gauge the start of the sakura season. More than five flowers had bloomed, the minimum requirement.
The blossoms are expected to reach their peak in about a week or 10 days.
This year s blossoms in Osaka Prefecture arrived eight days earlier than in an average year and four days earlier than last year.
The wide temperature fluctuations this year have led to the early flowers, according to the Osaka Regional Headquarters.
January and February had many cold days, but the mercury in March has been higher than in an average year.
The agency kept records on cherry blossom sightings in 1953.