On 10 April 2025, JLGC ran a Japanese cultural experience workshop for a Hanami event at The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland. The Alnwick Garden has the UK’s largest collection of European plants and the world’s largest collection of Taihaku cherry blossoms – a unique connection with Japan as its Taihaku trees are all grown from the Sussex garden of Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram (1880-1981), who reintroduced the lost variety to Japan in 1932.
The event marked a new addition to our outreach work to promote Japan’s regions in the UK and Europe. We met members of Elderberries, a community programme coordinated by The Alnwick Garden Trust to combat loneliness and isolation for people over 55 living in Northumberland. Japanese staff greatly enjoyed being able to share Japanese culture and learn about community programmes in the UK through Elderberries. Director General Akira Matsutani was also most honoured to meet the Duchess of Northumberland at the session.
For the rest of the day, we distributed tourist information materials provided by local governments in Japan to visitors and ran interactive workshops with calligraphy and traditional Japanese toys. We are most grateful to have received strong positive feedback from visitors on what was a warm, sunny day in the North East of England and the cherry blossoms on the cusp of full bloom.
We would like to express our thanks to The Alnwick Garden for inviting us this year – it was a great opportunity to reach people of all ages who may have less familiarity with Japan. We hope to continue working across the UK to promote interest in local areas across Japan.
