The last batch of Japanese cherry blossom trees were shipped to Hanoi on Monday, ready to be displayed at a Japanese culture exchange event to kick off later this week.

Some 200 Sakura trees have been shipped from Japan to the Vietnamese capital in two batches, with the first shipment on March 3.

The trees have been transported fully formed, with their roots in soil bags, and are being kept at Thong Nhat Park and cared for by Japanese experts.

They will be put on the official display during the Vietnam-Japan culture exchange event at Ly Thai To Park from Friday to Sunday.

In addition to those 200 trees, some 7,000 Sakura branches, sent by air freight to Hanoi, will also be displayed.

Besides the flower display, the event will also feature musical and art performances by Japanese and Vietnamese artists.

A tourism conference between Japan and Vietnam will be held as part of the three-day event, and Japan will hand over a large firefighter truck to Hanoi as a gift.

Truong Minh Tien, deputy director of the Hanoi culture department, said at a press conference on March 1 that the event will only showcase real flowers.

An ongoing Bulgarian rose festival in Hanoi has been blasted for mostly putting artificial or Vietnamese flowers on display, instead of those from the East European country as promised.

Hanoi has attempted to grow Japanese cherry blossoms on its soil, but the effort was in vain, Tien admitted.

“To be honest, the weather and climate here are not suitable to grow Sakura,” he said.

Below are some photos of the Sakura trees arriving on Monday.

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