日本櫻花今春早綻放

Spring has officially arrived in Japan.

Cherry blossoms flowered in Tokyo and two other prefectures in Japan, the first of this season in designated observation areas across the country, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Saturday.

Among the several varieties of "sakura" (cherry trees) in Japan, the "someiyoshino" in Tokyo and Shizuoka opened six days earlier than usual, while the trees in southern prefecture Kumamoto flowered two days earlier, said the agency, which reports annually on this closely watched barometer of spring.

It was only the fourth time Tokyo has led the archipelago in opening the cherry blossom season. The other times were on March 23, 1979, March 24, 1993, and March 20, 2007.

A Meteorological Agency official said recent warm days helped speed up the opening of those cherry blossoms.

The announcement is made when five or six blossoms are observed on special "benchmark" trees in these areas.

Families, friends and office workers crowd parks to eat and drink beer and sake as they admire the blossoms in often raucous "hanami" parties.

It was reported earlier that cherry trees in Washington, the capital of America, also bloomed earlier this year.

日本的春天真的來臨了。

據日本氣象廳上週六消息，日本首都東京及其它兩個縣的櫻花已經盛開，根據在指定觀測點的觀察結果，這是今年全日本櫻花開得最早的地方。

據日本氣象廳介紹，在日本常見的幾類櫻花樹中，今年東京和靜岡縣的“染井吉野櫻” 比往年早開放了六天，而日本南部熊本縣的櫻花則早開了兩天。櫻花被視爲日本春天的使者，日本氣象廳每年都會對櫻花開放的時間作詳細預報。

這是東京第四次成爲日本列島最早的櫻花綻放地。東京的櫻花曾在1979年3月23日、1993年3月24日和2007年3月20日最先開放。

日本氣象廳的一位官員說，由於近日日本天氣溫暖異常，所以導致了櫻花提前盛開。

櫻花開放的消息公佈前，氣象人員在這幾個地區的“樣本樹”上觀測到了五六朵綻放的櫻花。

日本的“花見會”（賞櫻活動）常常熱鬧非凡，親朋好友及同事成羣結對地聚在公園裏，一邊在樹下賞櫻花，一邊吃東西、喝啤酒。

此前有報道稱，美國首都華盛頓的櫻花今年也提前開放了。