A high school in Tokyo is donating two flowering dogwood trees to the Arlington Career Center.
The gift is intended to memorialize the 103rd anniversary of the United States’ gift to Japan of 60 flowering dogwood trees, according to a Japan-America Society of Washington DC press release.
The dogwood trees, donated by Tokyo’s Engei High School, is scheduled to be presented by the new Japanese ambassador, Shinsuke Sugiyama, on Tuesday, April 3, at 10:30 a.m. They will be planted near the Arlington Career Center’s S. Highland Street border.
Marc Hitzig, the group’s executive director, told ARLnow via email that Arlington was chosen because of a desire to set up a sister city arrangement between Arlington County and Setagaya ward.
According to the society’s press release, there are several similarities between Arlington and Setagaya ward — a Tokyo subdivision similar in arrangement from New York City’s boroughs — including proximity to bodies of water and area demographics.
“We chose the Career Center because we wanted to find a similar high school like Engei High School in Arlington County,” wrote Hitzig, a Bluemont resident, in an email.
“Engei is a horticultural high school in the heart of Tokyo, and since Arlington does not have a horticultural high school we thought the Career Center matched it the best of all of Arlington high schools.”
“Not to mention,” Hitzig added,”Virginia’s state flower and tree is the dogwood.”
Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick. Photo (2) via Google Maps.