A symbol of renewal and ephemerality, Japan's famous cherry blossoms, or "sakura," are aging. To preserve them, a new tool based on artificial intelligence has been developed.
The cherry blossom season is a highly anticipated time for Japanese people and tourists alike. But today, many trees, aged 70 to 80 years, are threatened by aging. Faced with the risk of extinction and rising maintenance costs, local authorities are calling for help from tree doctors.
To facilitate data collection, Japanese beverage company Kirin has developed an app called Sakura AI Camera.
Assessing cherry tree health with a smartphone
The app allows users to take pictures of cherry trees with their phones and rate their health and age on a five-level scale, ranging from very healthy to worrying.
The AI tool, trained on more than 5000 images, analyzes the photo of the tree to provide an assessment, and then records the image, condition, and location to a database available for free online via the "Sakura AI Camera" website.
Since its launch last month, around 20 photos have been added, and the data is freely available for local authorities to view.
According to Risa Shioda, from Kirin's marketing department:
« We've learned that preserving cherry trees requires significant human and financial resources, and that collecting data is difficult. We believe we can help. »
A major environmental issue
In Meguro Ward, southwest of Tokyo, famous for its cherry-tree-lined riverfront, the cost of replacing a single tree is about $6874.
Hiroyuki Wada of the Japanese Tree Doctors Association, who helped develop the tool, said:
« It's impressive to be able to locate cherry trees and assess their health. »
According to him, the aim is to enable experts to analyze the real causes of the vulnerability of trees.
Increasingly visible threats
While regularly inspecting Tokyo's cherry trees, Wada noticed an increase in the number of trees requiring special care.
He states:
« I am very worried. "Environmental changes were previously gradual, but today they are becoming evident.»
He mentions in particular heat waves, the lack of rain, and of course the natural aging of trees, factors which significantly aggravate the situation.
