It is a great pleasure and honor for me to celebrate the Hanami Festival here in the National Assembly Park on this beautiful day and enjoy the beauty of the sakuras. As far as I know, these cherry blossoms imported to Armenia from Japan symbolize the friendship between the Armenian and Japanese peoples. I am very happy to see that the sakuras are growing and blooming just like the Armenian-Japanese relations. This was stated by the Deputy Ambassador of Japan to Armenia Dabide Tsunakake, while participating in the event dedicated to the Japanese Hanami Festival in the National Assembly Park.
On April 4, at the initiative of the Arumenia-Nippon Armenian-Japanese Scientific-Cultural Union NGO, the Japanese Hanami Festival was celebrated in the National Assembly Park, which was attended by the RA NA deputies, representatives of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of the Arumenia-Nippon Union, and other guests.
The Japanese scholar, Founding President of the Arumenia-Nippon Union Anna Vardanyan informed that the planting of sakuras in Parliament Park took place in May 2015 as a sign of friendship between the Armenian and Japanese peoples, and Hanami is a traditional, bright Japanese Festival of admiring the beauty of blooming sakura flowers. She noted that this year marks the 5th anniversary of the Arumenia-Nipon Armenian-Japanese Scientific-Cultural Union NGO, and during those years the organization has implemented a number of works to develop Armenian-Japanese relations in the fields of science and culture.
The member of the NA Armenia-Japan Friendship Group Artur Khachatryan gave a speech. “Armenian-Japanese friendship is symbolic. Of course, we are very far from each other, but as two ancient peoples, as peoples that protect national traditions and respect national values, the closer our cooperation is, the more we value the importance of preserving and promoting national traditions,” he said. The MP also noted that Armenia and Japan have another reason to cooperate: They have suffered from wars.
At the end of the event, a beautiful tree-decoration ceremony took place: As a sign of peace, those present decorated the cherry blossoms with paper cranes made by the students of the Hikari Armenian-Japanese Scientific Educational and Cultural Center.
