World News | US, Japan to Mark Friendship with Cherry Tree at White House
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. 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 honour decades of friendship between their countries.
Washington, Apr 17 (AP) 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 honour 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 travelled 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 industrialised nations, including the U.S., in mid-May in Hiroshima. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)