Soh Daiko will be returning to Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the 12th annual Sakura Matsuri, hosted by the Japanese American Association of New York (JAA). If you’re in the Queens area (and even if you’re not!), please come and enjoy one of New York’s first cherry blossom festivals of the season with us!

From JAANY:
“The 21st Century New York Cherry Blossom Project began on Arbor Day, April 24, 1992 at City Hall Park, when cherry tree seeds were presented by Shigeru Inagaki, then President of JAA, to New York City. The Yamazakura and Somei-Yoshino cherry tree seeds were donated by the Cherry Association of Japan.

On April 3rd, 2001, 168 cherry trees, nursed from those seeds in the greenhouses of Van Cortlandt Park were presented to the City of New York. The first Sakura Matsuri was celebrated on April 12, 2003, and this has become an annual event. As the cherry trees flourish, they will be an everlasting symbol of friendship and harmony between Japan and the United States.

JAA members participated in the planning of the inaugural Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in 1982. Since then JAA has participated [in an] Annual Sakura Matsuri.”