Oregon Experience
Cherry Blossoms at Portland's Waterfront Have a Story
Clip: Season 13 Episode 2 | 2m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Cherry Blossoms At Portland's Waterfront Have A Surprising Story
Every spring Portland’s Japanese American Historical Plaza blooms with 100 cherry trees. But the Plaza also tells a story in stone dedicated to the perseverance of Japanese American immigrants who settled here and their family’s forced incarceration during WWII. Retired Portland businessman and community activist Henry Sakamoto takes us on a visit.
Oregon Experience is a local public television program presented by OPB
Oregon Experience
Cherry Blossoms at Portland's Waterfront Have a Story
Clip: Season 13 Episode 2 | 2m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Every spring Portland’s Japanese American Historical Plaza blooms with 100 cherry trees. But the Plaza also tells a story in stone dedicated to the perseverance of Japanese American immigrants who settled here and their family’s forced incarceration during WWII. Retired Portland businessman and community activist Henry Sakamoto takes us on a visit.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(gentle music) - And the Historical Plaza is dedicated to the history of people of Japanese ancestry in Oregon.
It's also called the Bill of Rights Plaza.
Helps people think about the status of the immigrants that have come and settled in Portland and still enjoying their life here.
It's a wonderful tribute.
I named Bill Naito as the fundraising chair, and he (chuckles) did a tremendous job because he has so many corporate connections.
There were 100 Akebono cherry trees donated to the city of Portland by a Japanese trading group who had established branch offices here in Portland.
We had the Japanese American Historical Plaza, which was a perfect location.
The cherry trees symbolical international friendship.
(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) The stones represent messages that should live forever, hopefully forever.
And one of the main messages that Bob Murase presented is where the major stone is located with the names of the internment camps and how bizarre the formations of the stones are, representing the mixed emotions that many people of Japanese ancestry have felt in our feeling in terms of the life here in the United States.
My hope is that the people recognize the feelings and the emotions that have gone into the construction, the financing of the historical plaza, that it will be there for a long, long time.
(gentle music continues)
Oregon Experience is a local public television program presented by OPB