Photo provided by the Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival
On April 17–19, the 34th Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival was held at the Seattle Center. Enjoyed by more than half a million people, the festival is the largest and oldest of its kind in the Northwest. At the festival, there were activities for children, lectures, art performances, martial arts, and more.
The festival celebrated the gift of 1,000 cherry trees given to Seattle in 1976 by Japan’s former Prime Minister Takeo Miki in commemoration of the United States’ bicentennial and the long friendship between the people of Japan and Washington state.