Keele’s cherry planting team receives the Ambassador’s commendation certificate.  From right, Ambassador Suzuki, Chris Sanders, Dave Emley and Graham Lees.                                    Ambassador Suzuki speaking at the ceremony                Chris Sanders talking to Ambassador Suzuki   Weeping cherry in full blossom at Keele University                                                Naoko talking to Ambassador Suzuki and Chris Sanders              Naoko talking to Ambassador Suzuki A group photo of the […]

                                      Naoko, Mr. Asari and Paul Addison                                           Mr. Asari and Ben Jones   Naoko went to Hokkaido in late May 2024 to meet with Masatoshi Asari, one of the three protagonists of the new book ‘The Martyr and the Red Kimono’ . The primary purpose of the visit was to give him the book. Her husband, Paul Addison, and Ben Jones, the curator of the Oxford University Arboretum, accompanied her. Mr. Asari

  The Dutch edition of ‘The Martyr and the Red Kimono’ was published on November 7 2024 by Thomas Rap. Its title is ‘De martelaar ch de rode Kimono’.                                                            

  Naoko’s new book ‘The Martyr and the Red Kimono’ was published on 18th April 2024. The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, supported by Chatto & Windus, held a book launch event on that evening in London. Naoko talked about the book to a crowd of more than 100 people.                

Naoko led a UK sakura group to Hokkaido in May 3-11 2023.    

★July-September  2022 A magnificent ‘Suffolk Sakura’ event took place at the White House Farm in Great Glemham, Suffolk, in July- September 2022. The owner of the farm, Jason Gathorne-Hardy, organized exhibitions of beautiful cherry blossom paintings by a Suffolk artist Emma Green, and stunning sakura silk scarves by Jenny Nutbeem, a natural-dye artist. Both were inspired by Collingwood Ingram’s love of cherry blossoms. The farm has about 60 cherry trees and Emma has been painting them as they came into blossom in the past two years. Jenny has dyed silk scarves with the flowers and leaves of these cherry trees. Jason is a descendent of the first Earl of Cranbrook,

Naoko gave a talk about  ‘Cherry’ Ingram and some new developments of cherry diplomacy between Japan and the UK at RHS Wisley Gardens on March 30th.  It was part of a special cherry blossom event which included a tour of the Gardens’ cherry trees with the curator Matt Pottage and a splendid five-course Japanese meal at the Garden’s restaurant.  The Ggardens have many different varieties of cherry trees including ‘Yamazakura’ ‘Taihaku’ ‘Shirotae’ , weeping cherries and the Matsumae cherries. The blossoms were at their peak and it was a lovely evening.

Naoko is giving a talk about ‘Cherry’ Ingram and cherry blossoms at RHS Wisley Gardens on 30 March. It is part of an exciting tour of cherry blossoms at the Gardens followed by a 5-course Japanese meal. My talk will be during the dessert and coffee. For booking, follow the link: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/viewevent?EFID=3294… —This event is fully booked.

       Collingwood Ingram’s cherries have returned to Japan! The 5 cherry varieties that ‘Cherry’ Ingram introduced to the UK in the 1920s and 1930s and which went extinct in Japan have just returned to Japan. The varieties are ‘Daikoku’, ‘Asano’, ‘Okiku-zakura’, ‘Kokonoe-zakura’ and Sumizome’. A Japanese cherry expert,Takaaki Ohara at the Toyama Botanical Gardens in Japan, came to England in 2017  and visited UK cherry expert Chris Lane’s nursery in Kent. Ohara identified 5 varieties that were growing at the nursery but which had disappeared in Japan.  Ohara has since imported them from Chris’s nursery with the help of Oxford University’s Botanical Garden. It was not an easy