Officials left blushing over Japan blossom glitch

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese weather officials have been left red-faced after a computer glitch led to incorrect forecasts for the start of the cherry blossom season.

The blooming of the delicate, pale pink flowers is something of a national obsession, and last week's official forecast was front-page news.

But on Wednesday, an embarrassed Meteorological Agency was forced to admit that its predictions were wrong, in one case forecasting blossoms more than a week early.

"The program we used for the data had a bug, so some of the data it read was wrong," said an agency official. "We're really very sorry."

Another official was shown on NHK national television bowing as he said, "I apologise deeply for issuing wrong information."

Among the four incorrect dates was that for Tokyo, where the blossoms are now expected to open around March 23 instead of the original prediction of March 18. The agency earlier on Wednesday said on its homepage that the blossoms would open on March 21.

The appeal of cherry blossoms, which appear only briefly, is said by Japanese to lie in the poignant reminder of the shortness of life -- but for many people it is an excuse to party.

Forecasts of when the blossoms will open are breathlessly awaited each year. They are used by cities to plan cherry blossom festivals, travel agencies to plan tours, and ordinary people to set dates for often raucous blossom-viewing parties, when they crowd into parks to hold picnics and drink beer and sake.

A spokeswoman for Japan Travel Bureau, Japan's largest travel agency, was unfazed, saying their tours are designed to take in multiple locations so trees in at least one place will be in bloom at any time.

For the Meteorological Agency, which has faced challenges in recent years from private forecasters, the worst is yet to come.

"We haven't had many complaints from the public, since the announcement still hasn't been widely publicised," the agency official said.

"But I think that from tomorrow, we're probably going to be overwhelmed by angry phone calls."