Cherry blossoms in bloom ©reuters.com
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In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo presented 3,000 cherry trees to the city of Washington, D.C. and the rest has been history.
This year marks the centennial Cherry Blossom Festival, with an additional three weeks extended to the usual two week celebration. The cherry trees started blooming early and just in time for yesterday’s start to the festivities.
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray predicted the centennial festival would provide ‘a tremendous boost to our image as a welcoming place and as an international city. It demonstrates, too, what the 100-year relationship between the United States and Japan and Washington and Tokyo has done ”” it’s served us in good times and in bad times’.
The festival runs through April 27. More details can be found at MSNBC.com