Cherry Tree Centennial

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Wentworth By the Sea Hotel, Portsmouth/New Castle NH -- May 11, 2012

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Consul General Hikihara Remarks

 

It is a pleasure to participate in this tree planting ceremony.

I would like to express my thanks to the staff of the city of Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the Strawbery Banke Museum and the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel for their support in organizing this ceremony,   
 

I feel particularly grateful to Mr. (Charles) Doleac, (President of the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire) and Stephanie Seacord for taking the lead role in making this historic gathering happen.

One hundred years ago in 1912, the gift of 3,000 cherry trees was sent from Tokyo to Washington, D.C.  
Every spring over the past century, those trees have blossomed, giving beautiful symbolic form to the Japan-U.S. friendship.  
This year, to mark the 100^th anniversary, the Japanese government is planting cherry trees in over 30 American cities.  

The Japanese people have always loved the blossoming cherry tree. At the end of a long cold winter, spring breezes bring cherry blossoms.  April also brings the new academic and fiscal years.  New graduates go out into the world.  People start a new life against a background of brilliant pink. The cherry blossoms symbolize a fresh start.

  
On the 11th of March last year, the northeastern coast of Japan was devastated by the largest ever earthquake in recorded history. The people of Japan stood up and bravely endured this terrible tragedy. But we were not alone in facing this misfortune.

Tremendous moral, financial and material support was mobilized from all over the world. Japan got back on its feet, and is now progressing steadily toward a full recovery.  The support from the United States was large in scale and overwhelming in speed. Our office in Boston was overwhelmed for month after month by a surge of support from all around New England, including New Hampshire.  
 

I would like to take this opportunity to renew our thanks for your generosity in our time of need.

I plant this cherry tree with gratitude toward you and toward the United States, and with our determination to recover from the disaster and to bring renewal to our country. Just as all Japanese have a special place in our hearts for cherry blossoms, we also have a special place in our hearts for Portsmouth. The Portsmouth Treaty was negotiated at a time when Japan had been struggling to become a modern nation after the historic opening up of the country just 50 years before.  The Portsmouth Peace Treaty was concluded, and Japan established its presence as a full fledged player in the world.
 

Several years later, Tokyo Mayor Ozaki had the desire to acknowledge the important role played by President Roosevelt in the peace treaty negotiations. The Mayor learned of First Lady Helen Taft’s plan to beautify Washington DC, and he   made a gift of 3,000 cherry trees in 1912. These were planted on the banks of the Potomac in the capital city’s Tidal Basin.
It later became one of Washington’s most famous spots.  

Today we are planting cherry trees at the Naval Shipyard, Strawbery Banke Museum and here at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel. These places have connections to Baron Komura. The Naval Shipyard was the venue of the negotiations for peace.
And the Wentworth Hotel is where the Japanese delegation stayed during the negotiations.  

The saplings that we are planting in Portsmouth today are all grafts from those Tidal Basin cherry trees. 100 years ago, Mayor Ozaki gave those cherry trees as a token of prayer for Japan-U.S. friendship. In the intervening 100 years, many things happened. But today our bilateral relations are based on shared values that are as firmly rooted as the cherry trees in Washington DC.  And they are in full flower.

It is my deeply held hope that as these young cherry plants mature and blossom each spring, so will the friendship between the Japanese people and the citizens of Portsmouth.

Last fall, on the Sept. 5 anniversary of the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, my government conferred on Mr. Doleac the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in recognition of his contributions to promoting friendship between Japan and the United States. I wish to thank Mr. Doleac once again for his important achievements, and I count on his continued efforts in the future. I am sure I can, as he is a tireless workaholic in the best sense of the word, even from our point of view.

One hundred years have passed, and finally our cherry trees have come to their true home.  I believe that they will flourish here for the next hundred years, and thereafter.
 

Thank you.

Portsmouth High School Madrigal Singers participate in the cherry tree planting ceremony at Wentworth By the Sea.

 

Frank Wetenkamp, General Manager, Wentworth By the Sea Hotel Remarks

 

Welcome to Wentworth By the Sea and thank you for honoring this place with one of the descendants of the original Washington trees whose history is rooted in this place.

 

When the owners of the Wentworth agreed to provide accommodations to both the Japanese and Russian delegations to the peace conference in 1905, we did so with the keenest sense of what hospitality should mean.

 

We were honored to be entrusted with fulfilling the President’s hope for an impartial and enthusiastic host. We were delighted to be the focus of world attention. And we were proud to be the place where symbolic events – like the thank you banquet hosted by the Japanese on the night before the Treaty was signed at the Shipyard.

 

And we uphold that tradition today as we welcome guests from every part of the world, especially those from Japan who make their pilgrimages to Wentworth to see where that history happened.

 

We are celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the cherry trees with a special Cherry Blossom Package here at the hotel and I think we should remember that connection each year when the cherry trees bloom.

 

We accept the gift of the cherry tree with a profound sense of its history and symbolism. As we understand it, the magnificent magnolia tree behind us was the gift of the Government of Japan for the hospitality their delegation enjoyed here. 100 years later it makes sense that history be reaffirmed with the planting of this cherry tree in the same soil that continues to nourish those roots. May our shared history, along with this cherry tree, flourish.

 

Thank you very much.