Tourists and Locals Enjoy ‘Ephemeral’ Tokyo Cherry Blossoms

People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
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Tourists and Locals Enjoy ‘Ephemeral’ Tokyo Cherry Blossoms

People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)

Tourists and Japanese locals marveled 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.

"It's an ephemeral experience and we're pretty happy that we got to be here and to witness it in full bloom too."

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) on Sunday declared the country's most common and popular "somei yoshino" variety of cherry tree in full bloom in Tokyo.

Although this year's blooming dates are around the average, the JMA says climate change and the urban heat-island effect are causing sakura to flower approximately 1.2 days earlier every 10 years.

"Seeing photos is another thing, but being here, (to) really see the sakura in your eyes... it's really amazing," said Ralf Ng from Hong Kong.

A weak yen is attracting more visitors than ever to Japan, with national tourism figures released in January showing a record of about 36.8 million arrivals last year.

Tokyo resident Kayoko Yoshihara, 69, organizes annual flower-viewing picnics with her friends, including one held last week as the cherry trees began to bloom.

"After enduring the cold winter, the cherry blossoms bloom and it makes you feel like you're motivated to head towards summer," she told AFP.

Nurse Nanami Kobayashi, 31, said the peak of the blossom season left her without words.

"When the trees are at full bloom, it's so beautiful that you just become speechless," she said.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.