The Embassy of Japan supports the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC with celebratory social media posts. However, over the years they realized most people don’t know the cherry blossom trees were a gift from Japan to the US a sign of friendship. They needed to increase brand awareness with their gen-z and millennial audiences. Additionally, they needed an engaging  way to remind people of the friendship between Japan and the US.

In celebration of the enduring Japan-U.S. friendship and as tribute to the origin of the cherry blossom tress, we launched large-scale installations during the 2022 and 2023 annual Cherry Blossom festivals.

2022 marked the the 110th anniversary of Japan’s gift of cherry blossom trees to the United States and we honored it with a one-of-a-kind, hand-built mural measuring 4×8 feet in size and containing over 40,000 pieces of LEGO. The piece is framed with imported cedar and birch from Japan. We used a traditional form of Japanese water-proofing and insect repellant called Shou Sugi Ban where the wood was charred with a torch and then sealed.

In 2023 we created a large-scale origami crane installation. To engage the local community, the Embassy invited guests to assemble cranes and learn the art of origami online and at multiple events. Once complete, the piece was installed in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.