Japan's cherry blossom database, 1,200 years old, has a new keeper

Unlocked article (found on Reddit): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/climate/japan-cherry-blos...

Data points: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/date-of-the-peak-cherry-t...

> Initially, they didn’t have much luck. No other researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University, where Prof. Aono worked, would be taking over his record-keeping, Hiroko Nishino, a university spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

I’m surprised that there was lackluster response. For this kind of honor, you would think that there would be a flood of responses. I am attributing it to bad marketing.

You're supposed to keep an apprentice, man!