Leaders of the world's most powerful nations are seeing more than flowery words at a summit in Japan, whose celebrated cherry blossoms are blooming out of season.
But it's not the result of global warming, one of the biggest issues at the three-day summit of the Group of Eight industrial powers that was closing Wednesday.
Instead, researchers have found an environmentally friendly way to delay the blooming of cherry blossoms — by keeping them in a room packed with snow and ice.
Journalists and the wives of G8 leaders had a look at the cherry blossoms at a lmuseum on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, where the flowers usually bloom in May.
"It's good to be able to display cherry blossoms, a symbol of Japan, at the time of the summit," said Makoto Mitsui, in charge of the project.
"I hope that people are learning that they can enjoy such beauty just by using nature, not by relying on high technology or industrial means," Mitsui said.
The annual springtime blooming is a time for nationwide revelry. Friends and colleagues hold boisterous picnics under the cherry blossoms, which have inspired generations of poets to reflect on the ephemeral nature of beauty.
