Pittsburgh Sakura Project shares piece of Japanese culture in Allegheny County

You don't have to drive very far to take in a special part of Japanese culture in Western Pennsylvania.The Pittsburgh Sakura Project has spent more than a decade planting and maintaining hundreds of cherry trees in North Park.The project began in 2007 when members of Pittsburgh's Japanese community brought a proposal to Allegheny County to plant groves in a county park.After considering several locations, North Park was selected."We looked at the lake and the pine trees and we thought, it couldn't be more Japanese," said Kary Arimoto-Mercer, landscape architect for the project.The group describes Fumio Yasuzawa as its "founding father." He came to the United States from Japan in 1975 as a chef. He arrived in Pittsburgh in the 1990s, eventually opening his own restaurant."He missed cherry trees, and tried it in his backyard, and said he'd been here in America for many years and wanted to give something back," board member Carol Tenny said.The group started planting the trees in 2009. Since then, the Pittsburgh Sakura Project has planted more than 400 trees, and 264 of them are a variety of cherry trees.The cherry blossom, or "Sakura," has deep meaning in Japanese culture--- symbolizing many things ranging from life, death and renewal."I think it really brings a cultural understanding," Arimoto-Mercer said. "And for people like me, a third-generation Japanese American, it was a chance to relate to people from Japan."If you'd like to learn more about the Pittsburgh Sakura Project or are interested in volunteering, you can contact the organization through its Facebook page.