While this is certainly evidence of something changing, simple urbanization is one thing you’d have to correct for when evaluating this data. The urban heat is

While this is certainly evidence of something changing, simple urbanization is one thing you’d have to correct for when evaluating this data. The urban heat island phenomenon is well documented, and since all Japanese cities have parks with cherry trees in them, UHI alone could cause a significant shift in how early said trees bloom. You’d have to do a careful study to disentangle the UHI effect from the climate effect in this case. So if anything, this article is a great demonstration why real science is hard, but sensationalism is easy.