Japanese officials and researchers have been carefully documenting when cherry blossoms bloom in Kyoto for the past 1,200 years. Yasuyuki Aono was the current record keeper, but he passed away recently with no one to take his place. For the Guardian, Chris Baraniuk reports on the search for a new keeper:
“You can very much see that he planned to continue,” said Tuna Acisu, a data scientist at Our World in Data, an online platform that publishes a chart based on Aono’s cherry tree data. “That made me a little bit emotional.”
Now, following a search launched by Acisu last week – sparked by fears that no one would be able to continue the 1,200-year cherry blossom record – a researcher in Japan has stepped forward and offered to make formal observations of the mountain cherry’s spring flowerings.
“He is consulting the same sources as Prof Aono to get us this year’s cherry blossom peak bloom and said he will confirm the date in the coming days,” Acisu said. The researcher in question asked to remain anonymous until the arrangement is finalised.
The data has become a marker for climate change, as the blooms come earlier and earlier. It’s good to see the centuries-old dataset continue.
