Japan chops down 1 lakh tulips to discourage mass gathering amid COVID-19 crises

To comply with social distancing rules, and to keep the fear of Coronavirus at bay, Japanese authorities have razed off more than 100000 tulips to prevent admirers from gathering. Usually, a huge number of bright colour tulips blanket the massive fields in Sakura city, east of Tokyo, at this time of the year. The flowers attract tons of visitors at the same time.

Reportedly, officials at Sakura Furusato Hiroba not only mowed the tulip beds, but also pulled the plug on the annual tulip festival to discourage people from gathering amid this crisis.
And although Japan announced a state of nationwide emergency as per reports, the measures have no legal force and are weakly enforced compared to elsewhere in the world. Therefore, mass gathering cannot be avoided and can become a concern in a place like Sakura Furusato Hiroba.
Referring to this, a city tourism official said that many visitors gathered there to witness the beauty of the flowers during the weekend. And because it became a spot for mass gathering, the authorities had no other choice but to mow down the tulip beds.
Now the sight of the field is not eye-pleasing, with all the buds razed to ground, the move is looked upon as a bold one to prevent mass gathering. However, despite the said efforts, it seems the move was not enough to curb person-to-person contact, as a small number of visitors can still be witnessed visiting the Sakura flower beds.