ドイツ発（datelined Germany）： Earliest cherry blossom season
２０２１年３月３１日（Wed.）15:15UP ： ドイツが報じる日本の桜事情です。（ニュースソース： DWーDE ３月３０日発 ）
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Japan: Earliest cherry blossom season peak on record
Japan's famous cherry blossoms have reached full bloom earlier this year than at any time since formal records began. Experts say climate change is the likely cause.
（抜粋）日本での桜開花時期は、今年記録が始まって以来の早さになっています。専門家によると気候変動が原因になっているだろうと言います。
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Often seen as a symbol of the fleeting and fragile nature of life, this year's cherry blossom events were marred by COVID-related restrictions and guidelines（今年の桜イベントはCOVID19関連の規制で台無しです。）
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Japanese cherry blossom lovers have been seeing their favorite time of year come ever earlier in recent times, with 2021 proving to be a record year.
The nation's favorite flower, called "sakura" — at one time very much an April phenomenon — has started to burst into bloom regularly in late March.
The season peaked earlier than any in centuries, according to research conducted in Japan
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Peak bloom in the ancient capital of Kyoto was reached on March 26 this year, the earliest since the Japan Meteorological Agency started collecting the data in 1953.
The date is 10 days ahead of the 30-year average, with similar records set this year in more than a dozen cities across Japan.
The flowers have been a strong influence on Japanese culture for centuries. They are regularly used in poetry and literature and their fragility is viewed as a symbol of life, death and rebirth.
Hanami viewing parties, with picnics — often with alcohol — are often organized beneath the trees.
The Japanese government this week lifted a COVID virus state of emergency in the Tokyo area. However, city governor Yuriko Koike still warned residents to "avoid cherry blossom viewing parties" to prevent a coronavirus resurgence.
Japan's caseload is not that high, with restrictions in Tokyo recently eased, but officials urged people to be more cautious than normal
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Indicator for climate change
Blossom-loving experts say this year's bloom is the earliest peak bloom ever in Kyoto, based on records from old documents, diaries and poetry books from the city.
Osaka Prefecture University environmental scientist Yasuyuki Aono told the AP news agency that he believed the earliest blooms before this year had been on March 27. Those had been in the years 1612, 1409 and 1236, although records are missing for some years.
The Japan Meteorological Agency tracks 58 "benchmark" cherry trees across the country. The trees are sensitive to temperature changes. The timing of their blooming can provide valuable data for climate change studies.
"We can say it's most likely because of the impact of the global warming," Shunji Anbe, an official at the agency's observations division, told the Associated Press.
Data shows that the average temperature for March in Kyoto has climbed to 10.6 degrees Celsius (51.1 F) in 2020 from 8.6 Celsius in 1953.
（注： 原文を読み流して下さい。そして、赤文字に設定した部分で専門家の意見が出ています。）
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日本での報道番組や気象予報等を見ていても、開花が早いことは伝えていても、その原因についてはほとんど触れられていません。これでは国民の意識も低いままで終わってしまいます。これらはマスコミのミスリードです。
これまでも幾度となく同じようなことはコメントして来ていますが、島国日本は世界の中で奇異な国として見られていることを知るべきです。ジェンダーギャップの件も然りです。
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