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Weatherman All Apologies After Bug Uncovered In Annual Japanese Cherry Season Forecast
Tokyo (AFP) March 14, 2007 Japan's chief weatherman bowed in apology Wednesday after a computer glitch meant that Tokyo will have to wait a few days longer than expected to revel under the cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms bloom for less than a week every year, a rite of spring that is an excuse for nationwide debauchery as merry-makers flock to parks, schoolyards and even cemeteries to drink under the trees. The Japan Meteorological Agency earlier this month forecast that the cherry trees will bloom around March 18 in Tokyo. But on Wednesday, the agency revised the date to March 21, blaming a computer glitch. "We announced incorrect dates for the flower-blooming forecast," the agency's forecast section chief, Keiichi Kashiwagi, told a nationally broadcast news conference. "We have disturbed the users of our information," he said, offering a deep bow of apology. The agency also revised forecasts for three other locations in Japan, delaying the much-awaited season by up to nine days. Predicting the cherry blossoms, which have left centuries worth of poets pondering the ephemeral nature of beauty, has become one of the most closely watched duties of the Meteorological Agency -- other than staying on guard for Japan's frequent earthquakes.
Source: Agence France-Presse Email This Article
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College Station TX (SPX) Mar 07, 2007Severe pollution from the Far East is almost certainly affecting the weather near you, says a Texas A and M University researcher who has studied the problem and has published a landmark paper on the topic in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
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