桜２５０本を追加寄贈　米「自由の女神像に匹敵」―岸田首相が公表

　【ワシントン時事】訪米中の岸田文雄首相は１０日、ホワイトハウスで開かれた歓迎式典で、米国に２５０本の桜を追加寄贈すると公表した。ワシントンのポトマック河畔では、１９１２年に東京市（当時）から贈られた桜をルーツとする約３７００本の桜が日米親善の象徴となっている。
　米政府高官は「建国以来、各国からの贈り物の中で最も重要なものが二つある。一つは（フランスから贈られた）自由の女神像、もう一つが日本から贈られた桜だ」と強調した。（2024/04/11-07:18）

Japan will donate 250 new cherry blossom trees to the United States, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at his welcome ceremony at the White House on Wednesday.
   Some 3,700 cherry blossom trees at the Tidal Basin that were donated by the city of Tokyo in 1912 are a symbol of the friendship between Japan and the United States.
   A senior U.S. official said that "the two most important gifts that countries have given the United States over the course of our existence: one would be the Statue of Liberty, and the second might be the gift, 110 years ago from Japan, of the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin."
   The U.S. National Park Service last month said that 158 of the cherry trees will be cut down to reconstruct a seawall around the Tidal Basin.
   Kishida said, "When I heard that some of the trees would be replaced...I decided to send 250 new cherry trees to commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States."