Flower lovers in Japan will have to wait until next year to tip-toe through the tulips after a park razed more than 100,000 stems to comply with social distancing rules to help control the coronavirus outbreak.
Officials in the city of Sakura, 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of Tokyo, mowed the tulip beds at "Sakura Furusato Hiroba" and canceled an annual tulip festival to discourage people from congregating after a coronavirus emergency was declared last week.
"Many visitors came on the weekend when the flowers were in full bloom. It became a mass gathering so we had no choice but to make the decision to cut the flowers," said Sakiho Kusano, a city tourism official.
Japan's tally of coronavirus infections stood at 11,500 on Wednesday.
Despite the absence of the pink and red flowers that usually carpet the 7,000-square-meter tulip gardens at this time of year, the park is drawing a smattering of visitors.
"It's very, very, very unfortunate. My mood sank when I saw this," 77-year-old visitor Misako Yonekubo said Wednesday.
The cut flowers were donated to kindergartens.
Please click to read our informative text prepared pursuant to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 and to get information about the cookies used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation.
6698 sayılı Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu uyarınca hazırlanmış aydınlatma metnimizi okumak ve sitemizde ilgili mevzuata uygun olarak kullanılan çerezlerle ilgili bilgi almak için lütfen tıklayınız.