Nor do they understand why a snowbound town in northern Japan has dedicated itself to the cultivation of a winter variety. But the residents of Nishikawa have discovered – at least, they thought they had discovered – that they need robots for their sakura. A winter variety of sakura, or cherry blossoms, grown in Nishikawa and picked by robots. Asean Intelligence Get insights into businesses across South-east Asia Get the free reportThen the farmers of Nishikawa waited. Mikito Misawa, one of the graduate students, said that he was not very hopeful that robots would save Yamagata’s agriculture.