[originaltext] Warm weather has brought Japan’s much-loved cherry trees into

Warm weather has brought Japan’s much-loved cherry trees into bloom two weeks early this year, but not everyone is excited to see the flowers ahead of time. Some in the leisure and retail industries are watching carefully their plans fall apart. The emergence of the pale pink flowers is the focus of national interest, with TV networks frequently broadcasting the latest information about the blooming of cherry flowers on their news programs. Families, companies and friends pack Tokyo’s parks during the season to picnic under the trees in full bloom. These parties can be organized at the last minute, but for businesses that organize flower-viewing tours, timing is everything. "If it turns out that people won’t be able to see cherry flowers at all, we’d have to cancel the tours," a spokeswoman for a travel agent said. "Actually, some of our tours have never been hooked anyway, because customers can see the situation for themselves on television." A group of retailers in central Tokyo has also called off a cherry-flower festival scheduled for next month, when the flowers will be gone. One office worker, however, saw the early flowers as a good sign for the country’s economy. "For the past 10 years Japan’s economy has been a late bloomer. Now it will finally bloom," he told Fuji Television.