Usually during this time of year, the Sakura Tulip Festa would be taking place at the Sakura Furusato Square in Sakura City of Chiba Prefecture (about 1.5 hours from Tokyo city center). This festival showcases nearly 800,000 colorful tulips, all circling a giant Dutch-style windmill – built to mark 400 years of friendship between Japan and the Netherlands.

Due to the entire nation being placed in a state of emergency with people urged to avoid gatherings and non-essential outings to stop the Covid-19 coronavirus from spreading, the Sakura Tulip Festa 2020 was canceled, but it didn’t stop over 400 people from visiting the ground on the afternoon of April 11th (even though the festival was called off and the parking lot was closed). With the tulips expected to reach full bloom this weekend, the city made the difficult decision to cut all 800,000 tulips in the field to stop people from visiting. While many have expressed sadness for the flowers’ sacrifice, they also praised the city’s efforts to thwart the spread of the virus should crowds gather to see the tulips in full bloom.