How the Japanese cherry blossom ritual came to Germany

In Japan, cherry blossoms (sakura) are more than just a springtime ritual. The cherry blossom symbolizes the bond between man and nature.

People celebrate the abundance of pink with picnics under the cherry trees and trips to places with the best views of the flora in bloom – after consulting special forecast maps with information about the peak times of flowering.

This integral part of Japanese culture is based on the philosophy of “mono no awareness”—an appreciation of impermanence.

Flowering lasts for about ten days, a period also awaited with great anticipation in Germany.

asian culture in germany

“Among the branches of blossoming cherry trees, no one is a stranger here,” says a small bronze plaque on a memorial stone in former East Berlin.

At the site of the so-called “death strip”, running parallel to the Berlin Wall to discourage escape attempts, Japanese citizens initiated and collected donations to plant 1,000 cherry trees. The project celebrated the unification of East and West Germany in the early 1990s.

Since 1996, this long avenue of Japanese cherry trees has been known as Japaneck (Japanese Corner).

With the support of the TV Asahi Network, the trees were planted by the Japanese Sakura Organizing Committee, with the memorial stone marking the significance of a moving gesture.

There, too, the Japanese ritual of the cherry blossom festival signals the arrival of spring when people gather at Japaneck for a picnic under the branches of cherry blossoms. Locals gather with Japanese and international visitors to enjoy the iconic springtime celebration together.

Why travel to Japan for the cherry blossom festival?

The trees with the iconic pink and white flowers can be found not just in Berlin, but all over Germany.

In the most popular destinations, flower barometers also indicate the best time to visit.

The routes taken by these trees to different parts of Germany were many and varied.

Cherry blossoms arrived in the then German capital, Bonn, in the 1980s, when a municipal planner decided in favor of ornamental trees when another tree species was not available.

Bonn now boasts a famous cherry blossom boulevard that attracts hordes of locals and international tourists alike.

Cherry trees in memory of Hiroshima

Hannover, which is Hiroshima’s twin city, also enjoys its annual cherry blossoms. There, the focus is on remembering.

The Hiroshima Memorial Grove has 50 Japanese cherry trees and opened in December 1987.

In 1989, another 60 trees were added to commemorate the 110,000 people killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Each of the 110 cherry trees represents 1,000 victims.

This article was originally written in German.