EyeQ Tech review EyeQ Tech EyeQ Tech tuyển dụng review công ty eyeq tech eyeq tech giờ ra sao EyeQ Tech review EyeQ Tech EyeQ Tech tuyển dụng crab meat crab meat crab meat importing crabs live crabs export mud crabs vietnamese crab exporter vietnamese crabs vietnamese seafood vietnamese seafood export vietnams crab vietnams crab vietnams export vietnams export
US News

Despite coronavirus lockdowns, blooming cherry blossoms draw crowds in DC, Tokyo

By
Adam Schrader
Published March 21, 2020, 11:52 p.m. ET
1 of 9
Washingtonians and tourists walk around the tidal basin to see this years cherry blossoms.
Washingtonians and tourists check out this year's cherry blossoms. AFP via Getty Images
Washingtonians and tourists walk around the tidal basin to see this years cherry blossoms.
AFP via Getty Images
Advertisement
A family wears masks as they visit the blooming cherry blossoms in Washington D.C
A family wears masks as they visit the blooming cherry blossoms in Washington, D.CUPI
Washingtonians and tourists walk around the tidal basin to see this years Cherry Blossom's despite the outbreak of coronavirus.
Washingtonians and tourists walk around the tidal basin to see this year's cherry blossoms despite the outbreak of coronavirus.AFP via Getty Images
Visitors wearing masks gather under cherry blossoms at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan.
Visitors in masks gather under cherry blossoms at Ueno Park in Tokyo.EPA
Advertisement
Members of the public flock to Tokyo city parks to view the blooming cherry blossoms
Members of the public flock to Tokyo city parks to view the blooming cherry blossoms.Getty Images
Advertisement

The annual flowering of cherry trees is bringing joy — but some danger — to large crowds of tourists in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., in defiance of coronavirus concerns.

People traveled from all over to see the capitol’s blooms, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Baltimore schoolteacher Amanda Maurer, 24, said the trip to D.C. was a needed break.

“I wanted to see the blossoms, but I was also going crazy,” she told the Review-Journal. “I needed something to do.”

In 1912, the people of Japan gifted the United States two of the “exalted” Yoshino cherry trees, planted by the wife of Chinese ambassador with First Lady Helen Herron Taft, according to the National Parks Service.

In the ensuing century, the craze only, well, blossomed.

Each spring, the pink and white flowers bloom for just a few days in the Tidal Basin area of the US capital — drawing large crowds with events and watch-parties despite the canceling of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which had been set for March 20 to April 12.

“This is definitely a pullback from previous years,” said Mike Toner, 45, of Arlington, Virginia.

Many people were out walking, jogging or riding their bikes — but some chose to enjoy the flowers from the safety of their cars, the outlet reported.

Luckily, you can still get a glimpse of the trees at the National Mall’s “BloomCam.”

The capital has 77 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins data. One person has died from the disease.

Vice President Mike Pence announced he will be tested for the coronavirus after one of his aides tested positive.

The beautiful flowers also drew crowds in Tokyo — where authorities asked visitors not to hold parties to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Japan has logged 1,007 cases, with 35 deaths and 232 recovered, data shows.