World War II reenactors often recreate past battles and even the down time of soldiers, but in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, 20 Japanese reenactors came out to recreate the planting of sakura trees by Japanese American soldiers Mar. 10, 2018.

Known as “Aloha Sakura Trees,” 100 seedlings were planted in 1950 at Maizuru’s Kyoraku Park and at a nearby school by Japanese-American soldiers, mostly Hawaiian, as a gift to their ancestral homeland to help in its post-war recovery.

Working with the Aloha Sakura Preservation Society, which began the replanting project, for this reenactment they planted 10 new trees with the assistance of nine Japanese-American veterans and family members who’d flown from Hawaii to participate in the event.

The members of the B Company/ 100^th Infantry Battalion/ 442^nd Regimental Combat Team Reenactment Group, normally reenact American’s Nisei soldiers who served in Europe, working to share the story of the Japanese-American unit in Japan and teach about the role of Japanese-Americans in Japan’s recovery. For this event though, they came out in force dressed as members of the Military Intelligence Service detachment that was stationed in Maizuru during the occupation.

Maizuru, a former Imperial Japanese Navy port on the Sea of Japan coast facing China and Korea, was a repatriation port for returning Japanese colonists and service members after World War II. MIS soldiers were stationed at the port to interrogate returnees who’d spent time in Soviet prison camps to gather information on the Soviets.

Making the event most memorable, the troop began the ceremony with buglers performing “To the Colors” and the Japanese national anthem. Afterwards a short speech was delivered by Lawrence Enomoto, MIS Veterans Club president, in which he recognized Glenn Arakaki, the sole MIS veteran who served in Maizuru during the occupation and thanked the reenactors for the opportunity to participate in the reenactment and commemorating the service of the MIS veterans in Maizuru. Using World War II-era shovels the reenactors and their guests planted the new trees beside the stone monument which commemorates the original plantings.

“It was very touching. It brought back a lot of memories of what my father, who served in the 100^th battalion, Company B what they went through,” said Ann Kabasawa, participant and daughter of 100^th Infantry Battalion, Company B veteran Raymond Nosaka. “And you see the Japanese from Japan and the Japanese-Americans working together. Seeing these trees, these cherry blossoms, is symbolic of our working together.”

The Aloha Sakura Preservation Society began the replanting efforts in December to supplement the original Aloha Sakura trees. The society raised half a million yen (roughly $5000) to buy new trees, create new signs and prepare the planting area around the Aloha Sakura memorial stone. Preparations began a month ahead of the planting with labor provided free of charge by five individuals, including several of the reenactors.

“The original aloha cherry blossoms are aging and starting to whither,” said Hide Koda, the event coordinator and member of both the society and reenactment group. “Now, if we leave things [as they are] we will not have them to tell this beautiful story. Therefore, we had a tree planting. In that fact, along with the grown trees we’ve inherited, we want to inherit their story.”

To learn more about the Aloha Sakura Preservation Society visit: http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~kfir/alohasakura.htm

To learn more about B Company/ 100^th Infantry Battalion/ 442^nd Regimental Combat Team Reenactment Group visit: https://www.facebook.com/BCo.HQ/