Yesterday Ikuko's folks took me on a nice walk over Mikan-yama, the mountain that separates Odawara from Ninomiya, and which is blanketed with Mikan farms and Plum tree groves. The view from the mountain was great, looking over sleepy Odawara with snowy Fuji-san hovering above. A scene like this, with nature and city all mixed together, is representative of Japan.
Surprisingly, the plum and cherry trees had already started blooming, even though it's still only January! This bloom doesn't usually begin until February or March, but this year it's extremely early. Ikuko's Dad thinks it's due to global warming. Of course it's hard to attribute such an annual and local trend to a long-term process like global warming, as other physics like El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the long-term meandering of the Kuroshio have as much or more effect on local weather than does global warming. But he may be right. It's interesting how most Japanese, even the older and more conservative ones, attribute much change to human-induced global warming, because they trust what their scientists and educated elite tell them, whereas most Americans, especially the less-educated, think that global-warming is a conspiracy constructed by the not-to-be-trusted educated elite (for what purpose though has not been explained to me).
Yesterday Ikuko's folks took me on a nice walk over Mikan-yama, the mountain that separates Odawara from Ninomiya, and which is blanketed with Mikan farms and Plum tree groves. The view from the mountain was great, looking over sleepy Odawara with snowy Fuji-san hovering above. A scene like this, with nature and city all mixed together, is representative of Japan. 
Surprisingly, the plum and cherry trees had already started blooming, even though it's still only January! This bloom doesn't usually begin until February or March, but this year it's extremely early. Ikuko's Dad thinks it's due to global warming. Of course it's hard to attribute such an annual and local trend to a long-term process like global warming, as other physics like El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the long-term meandering of the Kuroshio have as much or more effect on local weather than does global warming. But he may be right. It's interesting how most Japanese, even the older and more conservative ones, attribute much change to human-induced global warming, because they trust what their scientists and educated elite tell them, whereas most Americans, especially the less-educated, think that global-warming is a conspiracy constructed by the not-to-be-trusted educated elite (for what purpose though has not been explained to me).
2 comments:
Hello Jeremy,
Very nice photo of Blossom, I am bit jealous since last year I arrive in Japan after it. Glad you saw it, I hope to do it one year, too :)
cheers,
Nico
That's good to know about the Cherry Blossom ! We are going to be in the Kensai area in early March for a few days, hopefully we will get to see some.
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