FUJISAWA, Kanagawa -- Efforts are under way to develop a cherry tree that can bloom in the height of summer, and do it in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
A regional council -- put together by the Kanagawa prefectural government and others -- promoting flowers and greenery successfully engineered an early bloom tokaizakura cherry tree that blossomed this month.
The tree was produced by Toru Nagoya, 56, who grows flowers in Kawasaki and writes about ikebana flower arrangement.
If the effort succeeds, the typical Japanese blossoms could be used to decorate event venues and in bouquets presented in medal ceremonies during the 2020 Games.
The experiment was carried out in a section of the Enoshima Aquarium in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. Early this month, pale pink flowers began blooming one after another from a tokaizakura cherry flower arrangement in a room maintained at 28 C during the day.
The cherry tree blossomed over about a week as leaves gradually budded on its branches. Another experiment using cut flowers was carried out until Aug. 20.
Nagoya said he started his research in 2013, the year Tokyo won the bid to host the Olympics. Specialists told him it would be difficult to get trees to blossom in the summertime, but he refused to give up and took a trial-and-error approach.
The tokaizakura cherry tree is an early blooming variety, the bud of which usually start to mature around early March. In his experiments, Nagoya kept a tree in an environment that never got over 4 C during the winter. When he took it out in early summer, he verified it was blooming.
Yet Nagoya was not satisfied with the shape of the blossoms. Thinking he had stressed the buds, he created a specialized facility in which he could carefully control the humidity and temperature.
This facility and other modifications were used in the latest experiment. When Nagoya got a look at a tokaizakura cherry tree in full bloom, he was thrilled.
"The flowers blossomed naturally and beautifully, like they were waking up from a sleep," he said. Visitors to the aquarium were shocked to see cherry blossoms in full bloom.
"A lot of people said with surprise, 'Is that a cherry tree blooming in the summer?'" he said.
However, temperatures around 35 C are expected during the 2020 Games. Nagoya said he plans to continue his efforts to engineer a tree that can bloom in even harsher environments.
"I want cherry blossoms to greet the foreign athletes and tourists who come to Japan," he said.
Said Takashi Tanabe, fruit tree and flower section chief of the dissemination and instruction department at the Kanagawa Agricultural Technology Center: "There could be significant demand for a cherry tree that blossoms in summer."
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