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 is well known as the creator of 116 varieties of cherry trees, known as ‘Matsumae Cherries’ . He has sent many of his beautiful creations abroad as part of his ‘Peace mission’. Many of the recipient countries had suffered from Japanese aggression during the Second World War. All his peace activities are described in the book.
When the ‘UK delegation’ visited Asari, aged 93, at his home in Nanae-cho, near Hakodate in southern Hokkaido, he said that he was humbled to be one of the main characters in the book. ‘I only did what I believed important in life. Love and humanity are what cherry blossoms symbolise. They connect people with each other, denying animosity and conflicts’, he said.
*Naoko’s visit was aired by NHK TV, Japan’s equivalent of the BBC.
(The photos are from the show)
Naoko hands the book to Mr. Asari.
Naoko says ‘I wanted to convey Mr. Asari’s peace message to the world’
Mr. Asari says ‘We have always treasured sakura as a symbol of peace’.
Mr. Asari’s trees were planted at a Polish convent in the 1980s. ‘I will treasure Mr. Asari’s cherry trees’, says Klara Machulska, head of the convent.
Mr. Asari’s sakura ‘Beni-yutaka’ blooming at the convent in April 2024
The NHK programme aired the story of the book. It explained how Mr. Asari sent hundreds of cherry trees to Poland in the late 1980s. Nobody knew what had happened to them, including Mr. Asari. It was as though they had disappeared into an historical blackhole. The programme showed how Naoko traced the trees 35 years later and discovered that three were still living at a convent in a tiny village called Strachocina, in southern Poland, close to the Ukrainian border. ‘It is a miracle’ Mr. Asari said. The trees are blooming close to the route where Ukrainian refugees are fleeing from the war.
‘It is a miracle that the trees have survived all these years. I want them to keep sending the message of peace’ , Mr. Asari said.
