Called “the nation’s greatest springtime festival”, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. occurs each year from March 20th to April 14th to celebrate the lasting friendship between Japan and the United States. The Cherry Blossom festival began in 1912 with a gift of 3,000 Japanese cherry trees from the mayor of Tokyo to the city of Washington, D.C. Since 1912, gifts have been exchanged between the U.S. and Japan, including a gift of flowering dogwood trees from the United States to Japan. In 1927, a group of American schoolchildren held the first “festival”, which consisted of a small reenactment of the gifting and planting of the cherry trees. Since then, it has grown more each year to result in the gigantic, five-week celebration that it is today. But as beautiful as the cherry blossoms may be, they alone cannot draw the yearly crowd of almost 2 million people. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is much more than just admiring flowers—it is a celebration of the fusion of American and Japanese culture.
On April 4th this year’s peak bloom date will occur, meaning that 70 percent of the cherry blossoms will be open. This is a great time to go on one of the many cherry blossom viewing tours. Any way you can think of seeing them is available. If biking is your thing, there are guided bike tours through the arbors. If you like photography, there are photography expeditions that meet at sunrise to get the best shots of the blooms. There are cherry blossom cruises, too, where you can eat Japanese food while boating along the Tidal Basin, which is surrounded by flowering cherry trees. And, of course, there is always the option to just stroll along at your own pace on a self-guided walking tour of gardens.
For art lovers, there are multiple events that showcase Japanese art forms, from calligraphy and kimonos to theater and dance. If you’ve been wanting to add a kimono to your closet (which, let’s face it—who hasn’t since watching “Memoirs of a Geisha”?), a major event is a fundraiser which sells over a thousand kimono, some for as little as $15 dollars! Other cultural events include Japanese tea ceremonies, ninja lessons, textile-making, brush-painting demonstrations, and lessons in Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arrangement. For lovers of Japanese cuisine (or sake, for that matter), there are tastings and food-eating events galore. Many of these focus on umami, the fifth sense of taste in Japan which means “delicious”. One such event is the “Taste of Japan/Grand Sake Tasting”. For $100 dollars, you can eat your way through Japanese food from seven of the best Japanese restaurants in the D.C. area and have drinks from 20 Japanese breweries.
Nature-lovers, Japanophiles, and anyone else who loves good food and pretty flowers should check out this celebration of spring time and see the beautiful cherry trees bloom. If you missed it this spring break, keep it in mind for next year!