I'm Angie Brady.
I'm the director of the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects
with the city of Seattle.
Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you for joining us today to celebrate the importance
and the significance of the cherry trees that were recently planted
right here on Pike Street.
Today, we will be hearing remarks from Mayor Harrell,
Consul-General of Japan, Iyori Makoto
Karen Yoshitomi, Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural
and Community Center of Washington, and Councilmember Andrew Lewis.
These cherry trees and the associated commemorative plaque
right here that we're about to unveil today will be honoring the historical
significance of cherry trees for the Japanese American community
and the city of Seattle.
Japanese American farmers once represented over
75% of the vendors at Pike Place Market right here behind us.
These farmers along with all others, and the local Japanese
and Japanese American communities, were unjustly incarcerated
in 1942 during World War Two, solely on the basis of their race.
The work to highlight this history and significance of the cherry
trees planted in this location has been a collaborative effort.
We sincerely thank the people of the Japanese American community,
the Japanese Consulate and the Japanese American Citizen League,
who worked with the city to develop the information
written on the plaque we're unveiling today.
I would like to also recognize and thank Tazue and Yutaka Sasaki,
the co-chairs of the Seattle Cherry Blossom, and Japanese cultural Festival,
who have helped the community celebrate the significance of these special trees
for many, many years.
In addition to beautifying this space, we hope the eight new
prunus first blush cherry trees will help residents and visitors alike
gain a broader understanding of the historical and cultural connection
between the Japanese community and the Pike Place Market.
The planting of the cherry trees as part of waterfront, Seattle's Pike
and Pine Streetscape and Bicycle Improvements Project,
which we began construction of this February
and is an important part of the strengthening of the connection
between Seattle's downtown
to our brand new waterfront currently under construction.
We're standing in one of the project's signature block improvements
a curbless street meant to prioritize people walking and rolling.
And I can't tell you how happy we are to see crowds gathering
in this vibrant public space, enjoying the views of one of our city's
most iconic locations right here at Pike Place Market.
We're very excited to have the cherry trees here.
Without further ado, thank you for joining us.
I am going to be handing this off to our Mayor Harrell.
Thank you, Angela. - Thank you.
Thank you, (applause)
Just a minute.
I got to make sure it's just we only about 15 more minutes.
(laughter)
Okay. We're going to be okay here.
Thank you, Director Angela Brady, for all the work
you're doing to to help us reinvigorate this city.
And thank all of you for being here on.
You thought it was going to rain.
We could take this little drizzle. We're really excited
about what we're talking about here today, what we're doing.
It's very exciting to be here with members of our Japanese American community
and our downtown stakeholders who live here and work here and play here
to commemorate our plaque to
symbolize and give meaning
to what we're trying to do here with our eight new cherry blossom trees.
They're planted here this month.
The City of Seattle.
We're looking for ways to not only embrace
our efforts
against climate change, to embrace discussions in race
and social justice, to reinvigorate our downtown Seattle and keep people safe,
but to take our city on a whole different level
in terms of oneness, if you will.
In the next several weeks,
wherever you hear me speak, I'm going to find a way
to weave in the Husky game that's coming up here in January.
But I,
I just couldn't find a segue into the trees and the Huskies,
and so I'm going to give myself a pardon on this one.
But many of you do know my own personal story
with my Japanese heritage in my travels to Japan, trying to understand my own
alignment with Japanese culture.
And what I've come to understand is that this becomes important
for anyone that identifies with a certain ethnicity.
In as much as it
leads us to our path of commonality, what you've gone
through in your life, what your family has gone through in their lives.
A story of resilience, of overcoming impediments.
I don't care what color you are, what race you identify with, what's your
socioeconomic level is. How much noise is in the background.
I don't care about any of that.
What we care about is how you overcame your challenges,
and that's what these trees represent.
I could talk a little bit
about our goal of reversing our decline in tree canopy
and how this sort of symbolizes these efforts.
And, you know, we will plant another 16 additional trees in other locations,
including the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington,
and including areas in our new world class waterfront currently under
construction.
But these efforts do more than just defeat climate change.
Once again in Seattle,
we're not afraid to talk about our past.
It is our stories of resilience that will make us stronger.
The last couple of years has been very, very tough on this country.
They've been tough on all of us personally.
I don't see any of you wearing masks, by the way.
You know, this thing is not we're not completely out of the woods.
And I bring humor to that situation because this is traumatic for all of us.
And we still are walking around with trauma.
It's this kind of symbolism,
this kind of hope that will help us pierce through
what we've gone through and come together as one community.
Our history together is that, our history together.
So I want to thank everyone who provided feedback on what we're trying to do here.
When we looked at what we were trying to do here.
Hey, brother.
Hey. You all right?
I see you one Seattle, baby.
I'm with you.
That's part of it. Right on, he's good.
He's good. He's good.
What we tried to do
in our one Seattle.
That could have been embarrassing with those bird flapping. (laughter)
And I know what you all were thinking, too.
You didn't get your moment.
What we tried to do in
our one Seattle vision here is we listen to you.
We listen to what you wanted to do.
And we will always do that in our administration.
We're trying to make good, solid, based, database, outcome based decisions.
But we could make mistakes and we asked for grace.
We learn every single day.
And so that's why this is so exciting.
And with that, I want to thank you again for joining us.
And I’d like to introduce our Consul-General Makoto,
Iyori, theConsul-General of Japan, for some remarks.
And again, thank you for being here.
(applause)
Distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
I have the honor of being part of this ceremony to unveil
the commemorative plaque highlighting the significance
of Seattle, City to the Japanese
American community.
Yeah,
as articulated
on the plaque, Japanese cherry trees or Sakura trees
stand as a crucial symbol of Seattle enduring good ties
with Japan
dating back to 1909,
these cherry trees were sent from Japan to Washington, DC via Seattle
as a gesture of friendship to the United States
at that time, Seattle
was home to over 5000 Japanese and Japanese Americans,
including the farmers mentioned on the plaque.
In reflecting on Japanese American
history, It's essential not only to learn the hardships
before and during World War Two,
but also to recognize the remarkable progress and the community
bonds forged by Japanese Americans in the following decades.
Since my arrival
in Seattle six weeks ago, I've been deeply impressed
by the commitment of community leaders and organizations
that have contributed to the positive and the [inaudible], Japan
and U.S. relations we cherish today.
The blossoming of sakura trees,
heralds the end of cold,
dark and gloomy winter,
cherishing that bright and uplifting spring,
Theses newly planted sakura trees will paint Seattle
with sprouts of pink and bring happiness
to those who behold them.
As we take in the seeds and the beauty,
I hope it can remind us of the bonds of friendship
and mutual understanding enjoyed today
by the diverse communities of Seattle
and between Japan and the United States.
Thank you very much.
And may I direct the floor to Karen Yoshitomi,
Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington.
(applause)
Okay, well, I'm a Northwest girl, so I'm ready if it rains.
I laminated my notes,
but I'm only 95% ready because I changed my mind on what I was going to say.
So I had to do it in permanent pen.
But I'm getting there. Anyways.
Thank Mayor Harrell, Consul-General Iyori,
and Councilmember Lewis for supporting the inclusion
of cherry trees as part of the Pike Pine
streetscape and bicycle improvements.
I'm sure that there were a number of options consider
for landscaping and a lot of challenges.
I know.
Too soon, probably. But
but cherry trees and in particular
the blossoms have great cultural significance in Japan.
The cherry blossoms are a symbol not only of beauty,
but also impermanence.
I wanted to share with you a short story about cherry blossoms.
About 850 years ago
in Japan, there was an eight year old boy
who just knew he wanted to become a monk.
He was so determined that he begged his uncle
and aunt until they relented.
The boy and his uncle traveled
many miles up into the mountains.
When they finally reached the monastery,
it was very late in the evening.
The headmaster was reluctant to let the young boy
and his uncle inside and asked,
Why not come back tomorrow?
The boy responded with words that had become famous.
It's a short poem that's still remembered today,
and it goes like this.
Like cherry blossoms are the lives of those
who think they might, for who can tell
that there may be, a tempest in the night.
Back in 1968,
the Japanese community service, we call it the Nikkeijin Kai, published a book
that was written and compiled by Kazuo Ito. In Japanese.
It was titled Hyakunen Sakura, 1000 Cherry Blossoms. In english
it was retitled Issei, and the contents of the book
was a collection of reports from people across the Pacific
Northwest District and then also as far away
as Chicago, Hawaii.
And they were stories about
individual experiences, immigration, what it was like working in the railroads,
in the lumber mills, the discrimination,
trying to fit in,
the relationship between those who are here
and those who are back in Japan.
And the book is organized by name so that people can come
still and look through
that Japanese or the English version.
And many have found stories about their ancestors
and what their experience was like.
The cherry blossoms
are symbolic of the countless number of people who came before us,
people who made it possible for the gift of life that we have today.
We acknowledge the fragility of life and express our gratitude
by putting in our best effort today,
because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Thank you to all of those who are involved in this commemoration.
And certainly thank you for all of your leadership,
because you're doing today
what will make an impact tomorrow for future generations.
That's what the cherry blossoms mean.
And also for remembering
the significant role of the Japanese American truck farmers
who sold the produce at the Pike Place Market.
Thank you very much for allowing me to be a part of this important ceremony,
and it is my honor to turn the speaker
the microphone over to the next speaker, Councilmember Lewis.
(applause)
Thank you,
Karen. Thank you so much.
And thank you for your leadership in bringing this together today.
Thank you. Thank you.
You know, I look out at this crowd of people today
that made this happen because it wasn't just us sitting up here.
Were the people
in authority, were the people with power that helped pull the levers.
But we did it because the community reached out to us
and said this really, really need to happen.
I remember Cindi Laws reaching out to me.
I remember the people at Save the Market Entrance,
not only involved in the placemaking for what we are doing here on Pike,
but also for saving the historic Hahn Building,
for saving the Showbox
when it was potentially facing the wrecking ball.
These are the civic institutions, the cultural institutions of our city,
and around of applause to you for your work in bringing this day about.
In the city of Seattle, we both figuratively and literally put down roots.
That's what we're doing today.
We're doing it for these cherry blossom trees, but it's also inherent
to who we are as a multicultural people in the city.
It is no mistake that our first sister city
of the many sister cities that the city Seattle has
is Kyoto in Japan.
It is a storied
history of the relationship between the city of Seattle,
and our Japanese community that has been such a critical part of who we are as a city.
It's not a relationship that has always been pretty.
The leadership of the city.
Our federal government has failed.
The people of this city of Japanese descent who have built this place.
But, every single time we as civic leaders come together
in generations later to ask forgiveness, we come together to placemake, to build,
to commemorate that relationship that has made this such a unique,
neighborly relationship in the Pacific Rim between Japan and the city of Seattle.
That's what we're doing here today, because these trees, they're not just
trees.
This is what was so evident from talking to the community
when they were being removed, when we were going to replace these trees,
not with more cherry blossoms,
but with just any kind of bland street tree that might be easier to maintain.
You know, might provide shade in the months where we needed to provide
shade, might protect us from the rain on a day where that's inconvenient.
But they don't capture that cultural connection that is so important
to who we are.
It doesn't put down roots in the way that we,
as Seattleites, really value putting down our roots.
That's what we're doing here today.
And, you know,
the work that we've been doing downtown over the past two years,
because Mayor Harrell is right, it's been a very difficult period of time.
It's been difficult two years for you, four years for me.
But, you know, the work that we are doing downtown is about
looking at what this place can truly be looking at,
what downtown can be, not just in restoring the pre-COVID status quo,
but building a new downtown where we take places like this stretch of Pike.
They used to be dominated by cars, and we turn that over to the people of the city.
Where we remove a couple of cherry blossom trees
that are decaying, that are dying, replace them with more cherry
blossom trees that will thrive and endure in this urban environment.
That is the work that we are doing.
That's the one Seattle work that Mayor Harrell has led on.
It's been a great privilege
and honor to work with Mayor Harrell in moving that work forward, and I really
look forward to seeing what happens
in the city of Seattle going forward under his leadership
and appreciate the opportunity to come here today to commemorate
this planting and in a broader sense, commemorate
the long and storied relationship between Japan and the city of Seattle.
So thank you so much.
(applause)
And now, we clap. (laughter, applause)