Cherry Tree Diplomacy

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The cherry trees of Washington D.C. are often described as a symbol of friendship between the United States and Japan. The situation was actually rather more complex. In fact, the trees arrived at a time when many on both sides of the pacific thought that war between the US and Japan was inevitable.
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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #WashingtonDC

[@ddrhero]

I worked for a Japanese company, and my Japanese boss took a week off to drive from Cleveland to DC to see the cherry trees. He was a good friend.

[@rickwilliams967]

Was he a good friend because he went and still probably got paid to fuck around and not work?

[@ddrhero]

@@rickwilliams967 he was a good friend because he genuinely cared when I was going through some stuff, and always gave me the space I needed to do what needed to get done, and in occasion justified my requests to his superiors.

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

​@@rickwilliams967 The rest of us call it "vacation", not effing off."

[@Bargadiel]

​@@rickwilliams967he took the time off... do you not think that paid vacation should be a thing?

[@rebeccawaggoner3804]

​@@rickwilliams967I'm sorry you don't get paid vacation

[@sheilatruax6172]

I am very attached to the cherry blossoms. When they bloom, I'm reminded of my favourite aunt, from northern Honshu. She's been gone several years, but I still miss her, very much.

[@revmarkwillems9312]

In 1976 I was part of the Herbert Hoover High marching band and concert choir. We were invited to march in the Cherry Blossom Parade. It remains one of my treasured memories.

[@BuzzinVideography]

That's pretty darn incredible!

[@connoissuer_of_class]

One of my favorite parts of visiting dc was stumbling across a memorial dedicating the trees and the eternal friendship of the US and Japan

[@johnfun3394]

One can spend his whole life looking for the perfect blossom, and it would not have been a waisted life. The Last Samurai. Love that quote!

[@marvthedog1972]

they are all, perfect.

[@redmage777]

And yet perfection is often a flaw in and of itself...

[@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

@@redmage777 Do you understand what the word perfection means?

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

​@billythekid9061 Well, he can't spell. Look at the word "waisted". 🤔

[@GnYc3]

Vovivoovvvb Ohhh. Oh g good😮 18:24 hmonths. Bb oh bv😅i😅vbbbbbbbbbbbb But But 😅hohio

[@cjc363636]

I always knew the trees were a gift in the decades before WWII, but I never knew the details. Thanks so much History Guy for getting into the background of this interesting story.

[@navret1707]

The blossoms are beautiful. The Tidal Pool just shimmers with the colors of the cherry trees.

[@marvthedog1972]

i figured you'd mention that during WW2 the government had to station guards around the cherry trees to prevent people from cutting them down after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I've seen the trees in DC, they are quite beautiful and if you need or want to visit DC, do it during their bloom season. you wont regret it.

[@SuperCatacata]

I'm so grateful that steps were taken to keep and protect them, even when war broke out. DC would look a lot different without them.

[@DKH-ev2lr]

I was wondering why that did not happen, good to know there were steps to prevent it.

[@edwardloomis887]

The Tidal Basin and Potomac parks were created by the Army Corps of Engineers. The basin features an underwater gate that automatically closes as the tide rises, then opens as the tide goes out to flush the Washington Channel and keep it navigable. The soil to form the Basin and fill in the park land came from dredging the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, again to improve navigation. The Washington Navy Yard is on the Anacostia, and the Navy still manufactured big, heavy things that moved by water back then.

[@tessat338]

My grandfather used to work for the Naval Gun Factory in Washington DC until it closed in 1961...then he went to work for another US government agency...NASA.

[@ponyote]

The cherry blossom trees here in the Pacific Northwest are lovely right now. So ephemeral and beautiful.

[@dennisriblett4622]

I live in Lakeview Oregon and We have Snow this Morning. No blossoms quite Yet .

[@RetiredSailor60]

I spent 4 months in Yokosuka Japan in 1986 while deployed on USS Cape Cod AD 43. Toured Atami City, Beppu and Tokyo. Enjoyed the people and scenery.

[@rogergoodman8665]

Thankfully, We went from mortal enemies to strong allies... Sadly, the cost of the transition was the lives of way too many people.

[@lp-xl9ld]

"...the everlasting friendship between the United States and Japan..." NOW, yes. 80 years ago...

[@tobingallawa3322]

4:52 Barbi Benton's mother owned the first commercial kiwi fruit farm in the United States

[@Joyfulgrace7777]

I believe your bow tie has cherry blossoms on it. Beautiful.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Yup.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN NATURALLY

[@goodun2974]

James Bradley's history book "the Imperial Cruise" offers a harsh look at how Roosevelt's efforts at diplomacy with Japan may have inadvertently spurred the Japanese towards greater military expansionism, though other historians discount or dispute this.

[@cynthiaslater7445]

I had the chance to see the blooming trees in April 2005. It had to be the coldest spring ever! Still, it was a beautiful sight.

[@Milkman4279]

Whoever does the opening animation for these videos, is an absolute artist.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

I use a program called Viddyoze.

[@jeffbangkok]

30 years ago my wife received a 1 year scholarship to study computer in Tokyo from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. She said it was mostly touring Japan as she already knew the subject matter. She also received her regular pay as a Thai teacher. She just said the cherry blossoms didn't seem to be a big deal when she was there.

[@atsukorichards1675]

For the blooming season at one place is very short, she might had missed it where she had been. Did she go to see "Yo-zakura (夜桜/cherry blossoms at night)"? That has been big, too.

[@frankmosuch6798]

Thank you for providing detailed real history

[@timothyhays1817]

I heard Popeye was the one who chopped down the cherry tree. When asked, Washington replied, "Popeye did it."

[@Hypatia52]

That is a great Dad joke!!

[@dwiggang4290]

Great vid as usual. Your mention of Mason Weem's inclusion of the legend/fable of Washington and the cherry tree reminded me of one of my favorite paintings, Grant Wood's "Parson Weem's Fable" which is at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Ft. Worth TX.

[@melissad4976]

Can you do a video going over sister cities? The other day I was explaining to friends that my high school had a "sister city" in Japan, but they had no idea that was a thing! My school was built in the... 1950s? 1940s? While their"s are more modern...

[@HossBlacksilver]

Interesting subject, my hometown of Concord, North Carolina has a number of sister cities, the first is Killarney Ireland. So thirty years ago, my mom, who was a band mom for my kid brother's marching band got to march in the Dublin Saint Patrick Day parade, which also happened to be her birthday. 😅

[@atsukorichards1675]

A very good and interesting idea!

[@robertweldon7909]

Another interesting piece of history. I have often wondered where all those cherry trees came from. Just outside my apartment window is a huge "Pin" cherry tree. (its name comes from the fact that its fruit is about the size of a BB) It has been just covered with huge pink blossoms, a beautiful sight to see Not all plants, imported from Japan, have worked out well, like Wisteria, Mimosa trees, and Kudzu, Here in the southern US all are considered invasive, Especially Kudzu. A friend once told me that Kudzu was the only plant that you could take out 50 yards from the house, plant it in the ground , and it would beat you back to the house. Well, not really, but I have seen it grow about 6 inches in a matter of about 1 1/2 hours. ;-)

[@Aramis419]

Back in my teenage years, I worked for a rich guy whose property was perched on a fairly steep hill. Years before my employment, he’d planted kudzu to reinforce the hillside. I battled that stuff for 4 years until I left for college. It was thanks to a drought, an errant lightning strike, and the ensuing fire that finally rid us of that flora from Hell.

[@Hypatia52]

I vaguely remember that Kudzu was introduced to out-compete some other menace and it did the job fast and then they realized they had created a bigger problem than they started with, but I didn't know that mimosas and wisteria were problems to anyone but me (I'm severely allergic to wisteria--as I discovered while visiting Alexandria, VA during their blooming. They were beautiful though...

[@goodun2974]

​​@@Hypatia52, Kudzu was originally planted, by the army corps of engineers as I recall, as a means to combat soil erosion.

[@goodun2974]

​@@Aramis419, I've heard that people have gone away on vacation for a couple of weeks and come back home to find that the kudzu has blocked their garage or overgrown their second car sitting in the driveway.

[@goodun2974]

It seems that the cherry trees weren't particularly invasive when introduced into a foreign country, but the nation that gave them to us ultimately turned out to be very invasive.

[@bobwehner7881]

Nicely done. I'm kind of surprised that the present cutting isn't justified because the Japanese trees are "invasive."

[@edschools5580]

They're exotics species, but not necessarily invasive species. There is a difference. Even native species can become invasive if they have a check removed on them. I don't believe the Tidal Basin cherry trees are invading outside of where they are planted.

[@user-oh2hs6jh5x]

Welcome to class fellow students. Please take your assigned seat in your recliner, and grab your favorite beverage. Join us now as we return to those thrilling days of yesteryear . . .

[@draw4kicks]

Mine's a very jammy shiraz

[@GRWINNER]

This ain't the lone stranger!

[@user-oh2hs6jh5x]

@@GRWINNER Ding. . . Ding . . . Ding. We have a winner! I was waiting for some other geezer to recognize the reference to the Lone Ranger. You win a year's supply of crappy puns, and I WILL save you a seat in the first row of THG's thrice weekly programming. Good job Sir!

[@GRWINNER]

@@user-oh2hs6jh5x Umm..woo hoo? You on your own, kemo salami!

[@GRWINNER]

@@user-oh2hs6jh5x Umm..woo hoo..? You on your own, Kemo salami!

[@louisjov]

My high school had about two dozen cherry blossom trees that were planted there about this time. Many of them are gone now, but there were still 5-6 left when I was there

[@nedludd7622]

In Brooklyn next to the Brooklyn Museum(which not enough people visit when in NYC)there is a lovely old Japanese garden with cherry trees, the Hill-and-Pond garden. Both should be visited.

[@robertewalt7789]

There are also beautiful cherry trees in Newark, NJ.

[@Trigonometric]

I always wondered how the cherry trees were viewed by the American people during WW2. I'm honestly a bit surprised that they weren't chopped down or removed after Pearl Harbor.

[@leeblake3989]

The US military and DC police had to station guards and mobile patrols around the trees during WW II to keep people from cutting them down.

[@Mistreal1]

St Paul Minnesota’s Como Park was gifted Cherry Trees in commemoration of the original gifting. It is true also that the US gifted back to Japan cherry trees to replant in Japan after WWII. St Paul and Nagasaki was the first Sister City sanctioned by President Eisenhower in 1956.

[@richardmourdock2719]

This year thousands of tourists will visit the Cherry Blossom Festival and they will arrive in their Hondas, Toyotas and Subarus. The question of peace might be better phased in "who really won?"

[@notahotshot]

They will also arrive in Lincolns, Fords, Chevys, Lexus, BMWs, and countless other brands. Meanwhile, the global economy is pinned to the US dollar. The US won. Then began pissing in everyone's cereal.

[@rickwilliams967]

Check it out if you get the chance. Bring a small vehicle if you're driving though. No place to park unless you get there at like 4am.

[@danstotland6386]

Wonderful history and video. You certainly filled in a lot of gaps in my recollection of the planting of those trees. Thank you.

[@JackKemp-zl3ng]

When Jay Leno was host of the NBC Tonight Show, he told a joke about the gift from Japan of these cherry trees. Leno went on to say that American tourists, wanting to later take pictures of these beautiful trees, would need to purchase Japanese cameras, showing how clever and far thinking the Japanese were.

[@colleencrouch4346]

Everything’s better with Pirates!

[@richardjohnson4365]

We have them in Wilmington, Delaware, at the Josephine Gardens. They are absolutely beautiful!!! Japan donated them to us many years ago. When they die, we replace them with the same species. We also have them at the Todd, where the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial is situated. It's Beautiful!!!

[@redmage777]

I think we should have sent them some Giant Redwood saplings in exchange, I could just see that tree doing well in Japan.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

We sent dogwood trees.

[@Pygar2]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannelPlease, NEVER play-act as a pirate again! Please?

[@beebop9808]

Great story Guy! Never knew it before. Shame the trees are being lost. Lord knows this world could do with a lot more beauty and peace.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

They will all be replaced.

[@nattiedraws]

I adore how ya dressed up for the ad read

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

[@tessat338]

If you come to the DCA, we have ornamental blooming cherry trees all over the place. You don't have to stay at the Tidal Basin, though they are beautiful there.

[@jovanweismiller7114]

HG, do you know that the cherry blossom was so intertwined with Japanese far-right nationalism that one ultranationalist secret society was known as Sakurakai, or Cherry Blossom Society? Its aim was to overthrow the government of Japan, restore the Emperor to a position of dictatorship, and of course have the military rule under him. I only know this because in the 1960s when I went through AFES one of the organisations listed on the Attorney General's Subversive List was the Cherry Blossom Society. It sounded innocuous, so I got curious enough to do some research.

[@mikemodugno5879]

Awesome video. Thank you so much for your work.

[@ThomasEJohnson]

Your videos are always informative, and your presentation style is very entertaining. 👍

[@kennyhagan5781]

Avast! We be learning great things here, piratically at that. Best channel on KZbin.

[@sheacd1]

Glad we have them, we hope for peace, but just ask Japan what happens when you screw with the boats,..

[@navret1707]

DON’T TOUCH MY BOATS!

[@HM2SGT]

😅 We appear to have a couple of TFE fans here 😃👍

[@Dudeguymansir]

Your ad spot was awesome lol

[@rabbi120348]

One of your best videos! Mazal Tov!

[@lexington476]

1:28 oh we totally need a video on this hat 😃🤠🎩.

[@kellybasham3113]

Love your videos

[@frankmosuch6798]

Thanks!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you!

[@anthonypost8214]

bro even the sponsorships are fire on the history guy channel

[@captainamerica3814]

Heading to D.C. to see them. Is that a replica of a Roman Gladious sword on the wall behind you?

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

It is billed as a “Viking sword.” Rather larger than a gladius.

[@alexius23]

I believe that I once read a significant area of cherry trees were destroyed in World War 2 I don’t recall the details but cuttings of Tidal Basin trees were made & sent to Tokyo to help reforest those areas of the Japanese capital, I also recall that during World War 2 there had been calls to remove the Japanese trees. I believe there was vandalism of a few of thr trees.

[@candyflair7946]

You make history fun.😊👍

[@Jason-fm4my]

You should do a video on the WW2 m42 work boot. Apparently millions were made and they were early Soviet lend lease items.

[@cjk6736]

There has got a way to save the trees without destroying them.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

It makes more sense to raise new tress from the scions.

[@edwardloomis887]

Stumpy is being moved to the National Arboretum.

[@danstotland6386]

@@edwardloomis887 HURRAH! Good news.

[@Wil_Liam1]

That newsprint spelled Tokyo as Tokio.. 😮

[@jeffbangkok]

Good evening

[@Isolden11]

love the cosplay!

[@J.A.Smith2397]

Was hoping to listen on way to on way to work but lunch works lol

[@llongone2]

Iesato Tokugawa (not Takugawa) was mentioned as a descendant of the Tokugawa Clan that ruled Japan for centuries. (small correction)

[@earlaagaard8175]

The "s" in Grosvenor is silent....otherwise a WONDERFUL presentation - as usual! 🙂

[@garydean0308]

I have seen the Sakura in Tokyo and DC.

[@orbyfan]

This is an interesting and informative episode, but I thought today's episode would be about the 60th anniversary of the Good Friday earthquake that hit Alaska.

[@edwardloomis887]

A school friend moved to my hometown from Anchorage. The 1964 earthquake was a significant emotional event for his family.

[@orbyfan]

@@edwardloomis887 My mother told me some years ago that my father was given a tip on an oil well in Alaska; just two hours after he signed the papers to invest in it, the earthquake struck and destroyed it all. Our family wasn't meant to be rich.

[@ashergoney]

Display Is On Mad Man On Last Hours Of Only Left after December 20 2012 .

[@mjf1036]

Were there any calls to up root the trees after Pearl Harbor? I am glad the trees are still there. A reminder that peace and friendship forever requires careful cultivation. ❤

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Four trees were cut down by vandals the night of December 10, 1941. That was the only instance.

[@TM-ev2tc]

You should check into the chestnut tree outside Anne Frank's Secret Annex.

[@WinterInTheForest]

Is that where she kept her ballpoint pen?

[@TM-ev2tc]

​@@WinterInTheForest it was a tree that grew behind the annex. It eventually got diseased and blown down by high winds. They took cuttings from the tree and planted them in different Cities. She would look at the tree and she spoke about it while she was in hiding.

[@Pygar2]

@@WinterInTheForest?

[@goodun2974]

At 4:52, the evil face of the man who introduced *bamboo* to the US. The fruit crops are okay, but introducing bamboo was an ecological mistake of epic proportions.

[@randaljameslynch3863]

"Inebedabo!...

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@j.troydoe1278]

Hullo

[@adriaanboogaard8571]

I love Cherry's let's get one more harvest first if you're going to do it. We should not mulch all the wood. Cherry is great for smoking meat they should save it for a B.B.Q. and feed people a good meal. Have Cherry ice cream for dessert. Make the best out of the situation. :)

[@goodun2974]

A couple cherries on top of an ice cream sundae are okay, but cherry ice cream is an abomination. Even more so to anything that has artificial cherry flavor, ugh....

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

These trees are chosen for their blossoms, not their fruit. Their fruit is described as “tiny, black, bitter with a large pit.” While technically edible, they are generally left for the birds. The plan is to mulch the trees and use the mulch in the replanting.

[@merlinwizard1000]

20th, 27 March 2024

[@MKultra8815]

2

[@cybersean3000]

Pirates. . . of the Mississippi? Is it a joke, or history?

[@sjTHEfirst]

Side note: the U.S. donated two mushrooms to Japan right before the end of WW2.

[@acbenepe]

Dark humor.

[@lovisericachii4503]

huh I thought they say global warming is a fake issue... N that we dont have any environmental issue... dunno wai they need to be so concerned bout the rising sea lvl c:

[@JamesGoetzke]

Maybe we should get some trees from China. You know... modern times. The Pentagon can send a few people over to pick out some trees. I'm just saying.

[@chiefslinginbeef3641]

Im laughing.....japan in the early 20th century "being outraged at segregation". Definitely not. Literally every society was "segregated" at the time.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Definitely not what? The decision by the school board of San Francisco definitely did create outrage in the United States and Japan and nearly an international incident. The decision was denounce by President Theodore Roosevelt in his State of the Union address, and was rescinded via another "gentleman's agreement."

[@chiefslinginbeef3641]

​@@TheHistoryGuyChannelwas this more akin to the upper caste of Japanese weren't allowed in? As I'm diplomats or al Japanese in San Fran? That was more the distinction I should've made. Segregation was rife through most of the country at the time not just "the south."

[@Anamericanhomestead]

🇨🇳 Have we gotten any Chinese gifts lately? 😳

[@naponroy]

No views, but one comment. Weird.