US-Japan ties marked with cherry blossom gift
Tokyo pledges 250 trees as film, tech stars attend White House dinner for PM Kishida
Tokyo would send Washington 250 new cherry blossom trees by 2026, the White House announced, as the United States and Japan entered a new season of their geopolitical alliance against China in the Indo-Pacific.
“The gift is meant to mark the 250th anniversary of the US in 2026,” President Joe Biden said on Wednesday at the official arrival ceremony to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is on a five-day official visit.
Biden added that the trees would be planted at the Tidal Basin, a spot in the city famous for the nearly 3,000 cherry blossom trees donated by Japan in 1912.
“Like our friendship, these trees are timeless, inspiring and thriving,” Biden said, adding that he and Kishida had strolled across the lawn and visited the three Japanese cherry trees at the White House on Tuesday night.
Speaking after Biden, Kishida described the centuries-old trees that adorn Washington as a “symbol of the friendship between Japan and the US”.
The national flower of Japan also dominated the lavish state dinner hosted by the Bidens for Kishida and his wife on Wednesday night.
At a preview on Tuesday, first lady Jill Biden said a big section of the White House would feature an “illusion garden” to celebrate a “flourishing friendship”, with sweet pea, roses, peonies, hydrangeas and cherry blossom branches projected with an image of a river containing koi – a fish symbolic in Japanese culture.
The menu paired American and Japanese flavours, including house-cured salmon with avocados, grapefruit, watermelon radish, cucumber and shiso leaf fritters for a colourful first course.
The main course included dry-aged rib-eye steak, shishito pepper butter and a fricassee of fava beans and morel.
The dinner concluded with a salted caramel pistachio cake, matcha ganache and cherry ice cream with a raspberry drizzle.
Among the nearly 230 guests were popular J-pop duo Yoasobi, Hollywood icon Robert De Niro, Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Brad Smith, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain.
The guests dined on dinnerware from the George W. Bush and Lyndon Johnson collections as the singer-songwriter Paul Simon performed, according to the White House.
Yesterday, the Kishidas were due to have travelled to North Carolina, and today visit a Toyota plant, dine with governor Roy Cooper and attend a bluegrass concert.