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It's Cherry Blossom Season And The Photos Are Gorgeous

How did we get so lucky to live in a world with flowers this pink.

By by Pia Peterson

BuzzFeed News Photo Editor

Posted 1 hour ago

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Washington, DC's cherry trees draw tourists in each spring with their blooms. The cherry trees were a gift from Japan in 1912 as a token of friendship and are now nearly as famous as the blossoms in the origin country. Upon receiving the cherry trees, the US responded under President William Howard Taft by sending flowering dogwood trees.

The cherry trees have become a staple of the DC skyline and a symbol of the Japan–US relationship. In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, some of the limbs of DC's trees were broken in retaliation. According to the National Park Service, in the 1980s, there was a flood in Japan that destroyed many of this variety of cherry tree, but Japanese horticulturalists were able to restore some of the lost trees using hundreds of cuttings from the Washington, DC trees.

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People take pictures with their dogs in front of cherry blossoms along the Meguro River in Tokyo on March 29, 2022.

{ "id": 129026104 } Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images

This long exposure picture shows the blooming cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 29, 2022.

{ "id": 129026106 } Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images

A woman in a traditional outfit poses for pictures underneath blooming cherry blossoms at Inokashira Park in Tokyo on March 29, 2022.

{ "id": 129026117 } Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Cherry trees are in full bloom as visitors enjoy the view at Tidal Basin on March 26, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129026109 } Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images

Cherry trees are in full bloom as visitors enjoy the view at Tidal Basin on March 26, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129026139 } Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Two Pembroke Welsh Corgis pose for their owners as they visit the cherry blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin in the early morning on March 25, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129026141 } Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images

People visit the cherry blossoms as they bloom at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, on March 24, 2022.

{ "id": 129026167 } Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Some sakura trees started to bloom already, like here in Naka Meguro district. The traditional Japanese cherry blossom season in Tokyo is set to start on March 28, 2022.

{ "id": 129026223 } Paul Morigi / Getty Images

People visit the cherry blossom trees and take photos along the Tidal Basin during peak bloom on March 23, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129026298 } Andrew Harnik / AP

Isabelle Sohn, right, and Elaine Zhang, left, admire cherry blossoms in a neighborhood in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2022.

{ "id": 129026320 } Koji Sasahara / AP

People in boats view cherry blossoms in full bloom at the Chidorigafuchi palace moat in Tokyo on March 28, 2022.

{ "id": 129026347 } Andrew Harnik / AP

Cherry blossoms bloom in a neighborhood in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2022.

{ "id": 129026375 } Eugene Hoshiko / AP

A man wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus views the seasonal cherry blossoms at Ueno Park on March 24, 2022, in Tokyo.

{ "id": 129026393 } Carl Court / Getty Images

Cherry blossom blooms over the Meguro River on March 29, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan.

{ "id": 129026396 } Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Young women take a selfie while enjoying the first days of cherry blossom season on March 26, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan.

{ "id": 129047856 } Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Cherry trees are in full bloom as visitors enjoy the view at Tidal Basin on March 26, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129056398 } Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images

A Toden Arakawa Line tram, also known as the Tokyo Sakura tram, travels on a bridge next to the blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo on March 31, 2022.

{ "id": 129056399 } The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images

A woman in a white dress walks through a cherry tree grove near the Tidal Basin on March 29, 2022, in Washington, DC.

{ "id": 129056405 } Future Publishing / Future Publishing via Getty Images

Japanese people enjoy the cherry blossoms at the Renaka Dam in Kobe, Anhachi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, on April 1, 2022.

{ "id": 129056408 } Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

People enjoy the cherry blossom in Shinjuku Chuo Park on April 2, 2022.

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  Pia Peterson is a photo editor at BuzzFeed News, and is based in Brooklyn.

  Contact Pia Peterson at [email protected].

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