Japanese park cuts 100,000 tulips to avoid people gathering amid coronavirus crisis

Record ID: 1470178

  • Title: Japanese park cuts 100,000 tulips to avoid people gathering amid coronavirus crisis
  • Date: 22nd April 2020
  • Summary: SAKURA, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (APRIL 22, 2020) (REUTERS) TULIP FIELD WITH NO FLOWERS AT SAKURA FURUSATO HIROBA SQUARE WITH WINDMILL VARIOUS OF CHOPPED TULIP STEMS WITHOUT FLOWERS VARIOUS OF CHOPPED STEMS AND FLOWERS ON GROUND STEMS AND CHOPPED TULIP FLOWERS ON FIELD PINK TULIP WOMAN AND MAN SITTING ON PARK BENCH, LEAVING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 77-YEAR-OLD SAKURA CITY RES
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2020 06:30
  • Keywords: Chiba Prefecture Japan Sakura Furusato Park chopped tulips coronavirus flowers mass gathering park tulips
  • Location: SAKURA, CHIBA PREFECTURE/ TOKYO, JAPAN
  • City: SAKURA, CHIBA PREFECTURE/ TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA001CAKMYIV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Over 100,000 tulips were chopped at a Japanese park in Chiba prefecture to avoid visitors congregating at the park amid the coronavirus state of emergency declared by the government.
    The park, "Sakura Furusato Hiroba" in Sakura city is known for its 7000-square-metre tulip field where the flowers bloom in April, drawing over 10,000 visitors each year.
    City officials cancelled the annual tulip festival after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared the first state of emergency for Tokyo and six other areas and prefectures including Chiba on April 7.
    But people were still visiting the park, which left no other choice for city officials but to cut all of the tulips to avoid attracting visitors and mass gatherings.
    "It's very very very unfortunate. My mood sank especially when I see this (the field)," said 77-year-old local resident Misako Yonekubo who was visiting the park on Wednesday (April 22).
    The chopped flowers were donated to a nearby kindergarten.
    Abe extended the state of emergency to the whole country on April 16, asking citizens in Japan to reduce people-to-people contact by 80 percent. But people are still seen outside walking around in central Tokyo.
    The number of coronavirus cases in Japan is now over 11,000 with 277 deaths as of Tuesday (April 21), according to the Japanese health ministry.
    (Production: Akira Tomoshige, Akiko Okamoto)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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