mo4ch:>Japan cherry blossom season wilted by the coronavirus pandemic

Japan cherry blossom season wilted by the coronavirus pandemicJapan cherry blossom season wilted by the coronavirus pandemicBy Peter HoskinsBusiness reporter, Singapore 20 March 2020 Related TopicsCoronavirus pandemic Image copyrightReutersImage captionCrowds have been asked to stay away this cherry blossom seasonThe people of Japan and millions of tourists should now be enjoying the start of the cherry blossom viewing, or hanami, season.It's an extremely important time of year for the country, both economically and culturally.Traditionally friends and family get together, and for a new generation it's a perfect Instagram opportunity.But this year the coronavirus pandemic means events have been cancelled and foreign visitors are staying away.Katsuhiro Miyamoto from Kansai University highlighted the financial importance of hanami: "Japan's cherry blossom season has very big economic effects every year". He estimated that almost 8.5m tourists visited the country during…