Every year, weather services and the media,closely follow the so called "cherry blossom front" as it slowly moves northward. Note that the front generally indicates the opening of the first blossoms (kaika) rather than the arrival of full bloom (mankai). Of course, not every tree in a city opens on the same day, as trees in shadowy places, for example, can bloom several days later than trees in sunny places. For this reason, a representative sample tree is selected to define the date of kaika (the opening of the first blossoms) for a whole city.
| Location | Estimated Opening | Estimated Best Viewing |
| Tokyo | March 29 | April 5 to 14 |
| Kyoto | March 27 | April 2 to 11 |
| Kagoshima | March 25 | April 1 to 9 |
| Kumamoto | March 21 | March 29 to April 6 |
| Fukuoka | March 22 | March 29 to April 6 |
| Hiroshima | March 26 | April 1 to 9 |
| Takamatsu | March 27 | April 2 to 10 |
| Osaka | March 27 | April 2 to 10 |
| Nara | March 29 | April 2 to 10 |
| Nagoya | March 27 | April 3 to 11 |
| Yokohama | March 29 | April 5 to 13 |
| Kanazawa | April 3 | April 7 to 15 |
| Nagano | April 13 | April 17 to 25 |
| Fukushima | April 11 | April 14 to 22 |
| Sendai | April 12 | April 17 to 25 |
| Aomori | April 25 | April 29 to May 7 |
| Hakodate | May 2 | May 5 to 12 |
| Sapporo | May 5 | May 7 to 14 |