On March 13,
Japan’s Honmaddeka TV
reported there is
a possibility that people
will become less able to see
cherry blossoms in full bloom
in the future, due to
climate change.
Biologist Dr. Kiyohiko Ikeda
responded that the warming in Tokyo
is due to the urban heat island effect,
not greenhouse gas global warming.
Japanese biologist Dr. Kiyohiko Ikeda said:
“They said that it’s global warming’s fault,
but actually it is because of heat island effect.
Most of the cherry trees are in cities,
for example in the neighborhood of Tokyo
or surroundings.
The urban areas are getting warmer.
Tokyo has gotten warmer
by +3.2℃ over the last
one hundred years
and Hukuoka by +3.1℃.”
Rural locations not warming
Dr. Ikeda then noted:
“However in Hachijojima and Miyakejima
[islands of Tokyo], the temperature
did not change in the period.
So only cities are getting warmer.
Urban cherry blossoms are getting worse.
Cherry trees […] get a real wake-up
after being exposed to cold winter
temperatures for a long spell.
There are people who worry
that the cherry tree period
of dormancy won’t work
if the weather warms earlier
and so they will not blossom
in a normal way.”
Tokyo’s mean annual temperature
has been rising, while nearby rural island
Hachijojima has not had any warming
this century.
Unadjusted data from NASA (U.S.),
and the Japan Meteorology Agency,
show the island of Hachijojima
has not had any temperature increase
since 1926 !
Though historical observations
for cherry blossoms in Tokyo
show they have been appearing
earlier, over the long-term,
they have not been occurring earlier
since the start of the current century.
Although Tokyo long-term annual
temperature has risen, its winters
have not warmed up since 1985.
Mean annual temperatures
in Japan’s urban areas
are being impacted hugely
by urban heat island effect.
In the countryside – away from
asphalt, steel and concrete –
there is no global warming !