US, Japan to mark friendship with cherry tree at White House

The United States and Japan are marking their friendship with a new cherry tree at the White House

Jill Biden Japan (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

First lady Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida, the Japanese prime minister's wife, were planting a cherry tree on the White House grounds on 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 from April 16-18 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.

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