In the US capital, it's not springtime until the Japanese cherry blossoms bloom.
The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival ends Sunday after nearly a month's worth of virtual and outdoor events celebrating the trees, their roots in Japan and the home they have found in Washington.
The delicate pink flowers lining the Potomac River were a gift from Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington in 1912.
The gift of 3,000 cherry trees brought a centuries-old Japanese celebration to the people of the US. Every year, the city has celebrated the spirit of spring with the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
"We continue to celebrate the roots of that and honour the culture and history of Japan and that is really important to us," the president of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Diana Mayhew, told The National. "The festival is here to connect people, to remind us of a piece of international friendship, that we are unified and we hope to continue that."
This year, an early peak bloom in both Japan and the US provided another connection between the Washington festival and the trees' mother country.
‘Peak bloom’ is when 70 per cent of the Yoshino cherry blossoms open and varies annually depending on weather. In Kyoto, flowers reached peak bloom on March 26, the earliest since the year 812, according to expansive records from Osaka University.
In Washington this year, peak bloom was not particularly early considering historic records, but it did come several days before original National Park Service predictions due to warmer temperatures at the end of March.
It’s not the first time this has happened. According to National Park Service records, extraordinarily warm or cool temperatures have resulted in peak bloom as early as March 15, like in 1990, and as late as April 18, back in 1958.
While 2021’s bloom was not particularly historic on its own, data has shown an increasingly earlier peak bloom trend over the last ten years.
This is the second year that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the festival, which usually draws large crowds to the Tidal Basin during peak bloom.
"Normally, we attract 1.5 million people from all over the world," said Ms Mayhew.
The city closed down numerous roadways around the Tidal Basin to vehicles but kept all areas open to pedestrians and cyclists.
Muted crowding occurred along the Tidal Basin this year, with particular clusters around the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. But Ms Mayhew says, all things considered, crowd control through the pandemic has been largely successful.
"We put that message out constantly, to please wear a mask, socially distance and apply all the guidelines," she said.
"We don't get the hundreds of thousands of people that normally come down. I think we've done a really great job."
Under Ms Mayhew and her team, cherry blossom celebrations have expanded beyond the pink-skirted Tidal Basin, spilling out into the streets of the city and neighbouring states of Maryland and Virginia, with art shows, restaurant specials and more. For the team at the National Cherry Blossom Festival, celebrating that history with Japan is just as important as celebrating the District of Columbia as a local community.
“The festival has really become a community, and [Washington] continues to remember how much [we] appreciate this treasure in our own town and has become part of the festival by decorating porches, kite flying,” said Ms Mayhew. “The people are becoming the festival.”
One way the festival has moved into the city and surrounding areas is the addition of 26 cherry blossom flower sculptures. The National Cherry Blossom Festival hosted a competition for artists to submit their designs to paint them.
Among the winners was Woojung Lee, a Graphic Design student at nearby Northern Virginia Community College. Her design, entitled 2021: Hoping 2021 Is Like the Sunrise, was inspired by the pandemic.
“2020 was the hardest year for everyone,” she said.
“I couldn’t do anything, had to stay home because of Covid. That made me really frustrated and depressed ... but I started to notice the sunrise more. And it was a reminder that the sun will rise. [My design says] the sun will rise, just keep going, there will be a new day.”
It's a message the festival's president believes gets to the heart of what cherry blossom season means in Washington.
"The blossoms themselves give this sense of hope, renewal, new beginnings. I think it's why so many people come to see them. It brings people joy, it gives them that moment to really remember all of the positive things in the world," said Ms Mayhew.
“But also that things are fleeting, let’s appreciate them while we have them because they are going to be gone. I think that really draws people.”
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Eamana%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karim%20Farra%20and%20Ziad%20Aboujeb%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERegulator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDFSA%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinancial%20services%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E85%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESelf-funded%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 4 (Salah (pen 4, 33', & pen 88', Van Dijk (20')
Leeds United 3 (Harrison 12', Bamford 30', Klich 66')
Man of the match Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The biog
Most memorable achievement: Leading my first city-wide charity campaign in Toronto holds a special place in my heart. It was for Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women program and showed me the power of how communities can come together in the smallest ways to have such wide impact.
Favourite film: Childhood favourite would be Disney’s Jungle Book and classic favourite Gone With The Wind.
Favourite book: To Kill A Mockingbird for a timeless story on justice and courage and Harry Potters for my love of all things magical.
Favourite quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
Favourite food: Dim sum
Favourite place to travel to: Anywhere with natural beauty, wildlife and awe-inspiring sunsets.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Read more about the coronavirus
ODI FIXTURE SCHEDULE
First ODI, October 22
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Second ODI, October 25
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Third ODI, October 29
Venue TBC
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium, Malayisa
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia on October 10
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20trailblazers
%3Cp%3ESixteen%20boys%20and%2015%20girls%20have%20gone%20on%20from%20Go-Pro%20Academy%20in%20Dubai%20to%20either%20professional%20contracts%20abroad%20or%20scholarships%20in%20the%20United%20States.%20Here%20are%20two%20of%20the%20most%20prominent.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EGeorgia%20Gibson%20(Newcastle%20United)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EThe%20reason%20the%20academy%20in%20Dubai%20first%20set%20up%20a%20girls%E2%80%99%20programme%20was%20to%20help%20Gibson%20reach%20her%20potential.%20Now%20she%20plays%20professionally%20for%20Newcastle%20United%20in%20the%20UK.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMackenzie%20Hunt%20(Everton)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EAttended%20DESS%20in%20Dubai%2C%20before%20heading%20to%20the%20UK%20to%20join%20Everton%20full%20time%20as%20a%20teenager.%20He%20was%20on%20the%20bench%20for%20the%20first%20team%20as%20recently%20as%20their%20fixture%20against%20Brighton%20on%20February%2024.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg.
The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company.
When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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