Among the least likely dangerous pursuits most people would imagine, one would think that viewing cherry blossoms would be high on the list—but not, apparently in Tokyo.
The problem is that many of the most popular variety, Somei Yoshino, planted en masse after World War II are now quite elderly as cherry trees go, and a number have collapsed in recent years, including two in recent weeks in Tokyo parks.
One, at Kinuta Park, took down a fence but missed visitors; at another park one almost feel into the moat of the Imperial Palace. The Kinuta Park tree was a giant; 18 meters high and 2.5 meters in diameter. Earlier in the year, a passerby was injured by a falling tree. Over the past year, 85 have fallen, injuring three.
Officials haven’t placed any areas off limits, but local assembly members have called for safety measures quickly, but without proactively cutting trees.
Image: Cherry Blossoms in Kinuta Park, Tokyo (Maynard Hogg/Wikimedia Commons)
