Two hundred cherry trees were taken from Japan to Hanoi on Friday, just in time for the opening of a two-day festival to treat people in the Vietnamese capital city to the Japanese iconic flowers.

The gift of 200 cherry trees from Japan adds to numerous flowers on display at the cherry blossom festival, running on Saturday and Sunday at the Ly Thai To monument near Hoan Kiem (Returning Sword) Lake in the heart of Hanoi.

Besides the trees, there are also 10,000 cherry branches, as well as lilies, daisies, and hydrangeas, displayed at the festival, which is a cultural exchange event between Japan and Vietnam.

The event is held to dignify the city’s beauty and to maximize its tourism potential, said Hoang Trung Hai, secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee.

During the festival, the cherry trees and flowers will be cared for by Japanese experts to make sure they are in the healthiest conditions.

The cherry blossoms, or sakura in Japanese, have charmed their way to passers-by and tourists in Hanoi.

“This is the first time I have seen such serene beauty of the flowers right in Vietnam,” white-collar worker Vu Thanh Hau said with a smile.

“I am so glad and feel lucky as I have seen them in real life even without traveling to Japan.”

The plants are sourced from the Japanese island of Okinawa, which has similar atmosphere and earth conditions to Hanoi, according to local officials.

Do Van Chung, an employee of the city’s planting service agency, said Japanese experts have made it more easy for his colleagues to take care of the trees.

After the festival, the cherry trees will be transferred to Hoa Binh Park in Bac Tu Liem District, where Japanese experts will continue tending to them. The trees will produce blossoms after just one year, according to the experts.

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