Tankie Right

In 1912, Tokyo sent Washington 3,000 cherry trees. You know that part. Here's the part almost nobody in America knows. Three years later, America sent something back. Dogwood trees. Your tree. Japan fell in love with it. Today the dogwood is one of the most common street trees in Japan. Every spring, millions of Japanese people walk to work under your flowers. Most of them have no idea where they came from. One of the original trees is still alive. It stands outside a high school in Tokyo. 26 feet tall. More than 110 years old. Then came September 11th. A Japanese singer was so moved by what happened in New York that she wrote a song about peace, and named it after your tree. "Hanamizuki." Dogwood. It's a wish that the people you love will be happy for a hundred years. It became one of the most-sung karaoke songs in Japan. My sister played it at her wedding. So tonight, somewhere in Japan, in a tiny karaoke room, someone is singing about an American tree, born from an American tragedy, wishing someone a hundred happy years. America, you gave us a tree. We gave it a song.