The story behind the National Cherry Blossom Festival

Hello, reader!

Image Source: history.com

I’m taking a short break from my travel stories with this entry to focus on a recently held celebration of the friendship between the US and Japan, marked with the blooming of the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC.

The story of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington is one worth retelling because of all the work that has been done to keep the trees blooming beautifully every year. Over the years, it has grown from its modest beginnings into one of the nation’s most breathtaking springtime celebrations. 

The festival commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington in 1912. Efforts to bring cherry trees to Washington started years before that, however. Apart from the early efforts made by various individuals dating as early as 1885, the first batch of cherry tree gifts from Tokyo arrived in 1910. The first 2,000 trees, however, were found to be diseased and had to be destroyed to protect local growers.

Image Source: bbc.co.uk

But that initial setback did not deter the parties involved, and it was through the coordination of Dr. Jokichi Takamine, a world-famous chemist and the founder of Sankyo Co., Ltd., Dr. David Fairchild of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Eliza Scidmore, first female board member of the National Geographic Society, and First Lady Helen Herron Taft, that the cherry trees now stand today in DC. In reciprocation, the United States government donated flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan in 1915.

Another part of the story worth mentioning is that the cycle of gift-giving between the US and Japan came full circle in 1981 when cuttings from the trees in Washington were given to horticulturists in Japan to replace some of the cherry trees which were destroyed in a flood.

Image Source: washington.org

The blooming cherry trees are a sight to behold. Photos can only capture a fraction of their true beauty, and if you haven’t seen the Sakura in full bloom, then I suggest that you take a trip to Washington around March to April next year to join in on the celebration.

Hi, this is Louis Habash. For more links to my travel and culture stories, visit me on Twitter.

A little something about the Japanese Omiyage

“Here’s a little something I got…” is a phrase that we commonly hear from people who’ve taken time to share with us a small part of their trips in the form of trinkets, food items, or novelty goods. These gift items are also usually accompanied by stories of how they found the items or why they picked the specific gift over the others that they could have gotten.

Image Source: omiyageblogs.ca

While I can’t give my readers physical gifts, I’d like to share some tidbits of what I got from my travels to Asia. This time, given that we’ve just recently celebrated the enduring friendship between Japan and the US with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, and since I’m on the topic of souvenir giving, I think I should share what little I know about the Japanese way of giving souvenirs.

The Japanese use the term Omiyage for both the gifts that you give to friends after the trip and for the obligatory gift (as a matter of politeness) that you give to the people you’re visiting at your destination. The souvenir items are, of course, what you can get and what you can give, that’s fine. For the latter kind of omiyage, however, there’s a certain set of considerations to follow.

Image Source: morethingsjapanese.com

For the best choice of presents for one’s hosts, something consumable is recommended. It’s hard to find space for gifts in many cases, so gifts that don’t need to be stored for too long are best. Otherwise, something expensive, like a tie or scarf from a popular brand, is a good alternative.

Now, as a non-Japanese guest, one isn’t really expected to bring omiyage. If you really want to impress your hosts, though, then this may serve as a little reminder of what you should think of bringing.

Image Source: ehow.com

Louis Habash shares more tidbits of information about travel and culture on this Twitter page.