US, Japan mark friendship with cherry tree planting

(17 Apr 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC – 17 April 2023
1. Mid shot of US First Lady Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida,spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan, planting a cherry tree in the White House Rose Garden
ANNOTATION: First lady Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida, the wife Japan’s prime minister, planted a cherry tree on the White House grounds Monday.
ANNOTATION: Biden said the planting of the tree is “a symbol of the friendship between our two nations forever and ever.”
2. Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Kishida pose for photos after the tree planing
ANNOTATION: Kishida is on a rare solo visit at Biden’s invitation. It’s the first time that the spouse of the prime minister has traveled alone to the United States.
3. Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Kishida walk away
STORYLINE:
First lady Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida, the wife of the prime minister of Japan, planted a cherry tree on the White House grounds Monday to honor decades of friendship between their countries.

Kishida is on a rare solo visit to the United States. It’s the first time that the spouse of the prime minister has traveled alone to the United States, and Kishida was visiting at Biden’s invitation, according to the Japanese embassy in Washington.

She is in Washington this week participating in activities to promote friendship between the U.S. and Japan, as well as cultural exchanges, the Japanese government said.

Biden also was hosting Kishida for lunch at the White House, followed by the tree planting ceremony.

The new sapling is a Yoshino cherry tree that was propagated from a cutting from a cherry tree that was planted on the south grounds in July 2017, the White House said. There are 23 cherry trees across the 18 acres of White House grounds.

The meeting between Biden and Kishida was rescheduled from January when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, accompanied by his wife, met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. At the time, Jill Biden was unable to host Yuko Kishida because Biden was recovering from a surgical procedure performed two days earlier to remove several cancerous lesions from her skin.

It comes before next week’s April 26 state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady, Kim Keon Hee.

President Biden has looked to build closer security cooperation with Japan and South Korea at a time of shared concerns about a restive North Korea and a more powerful China. He has sought opportunities to help the historic rivals improve their long, fraught relationship as the Indo-Pacific region becomes increasingly complicated.

The U.S. and Japanese spouses also were meeting several weeks before Kishida hosts the annual Group of Seven summit of leading industrialized nations, including the U.S., in mid-May in Hiroshima, Japan.

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