Japan celebrates cherry blossom bloom

The Japanese Meteorological Agency said today that the country’s capital is officially in bloom, a closely watched announcement that marks the start of the yearly cherry blossom viewing season.

Japan designates certain sakura trees for monitoring all across the country, and considers a region to be in bloom when at least five or six flowers can be counted on its trees.

An official government counter visited the Yasukuni Shrine, home to Tokyo’s trees, today and proclaimed the city “in flower”.