Author of The Emperor and the Spy
Prince Iyesato Tokugawa guided the Japanese gifting of the cherry blossom trees to the U.S. Capital in 1910 and 1912 into becoming an international token of goodwill which is now officially known as the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival – His behind the scenes role in accomplishing this diplomatic success was discovered while researching for the illustrated biography on Prince Tokugawa, titled: THE ART OF PEACE.
Here is an important moment in history, when the leader of the Japanese peace and democracy movement met with his counterparts in the United States during a challenging period of U.S. Japan relations. This rare, perhaps one of a kind photo presents the Japan Society’s Annual Dinner event honoring Prince Tokugawa on Feb. 27, 1934 – This diplomatic goodwill gathering took place at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. [Source of photo: TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com archives – The actual photo is 14 x 22 inches in size.]
Above is an original 1920 photo (far right segment) of the larger photo shown just below. It presents an exciting moment in international business relations, an early U.S. Japan trade/economic alliance being formed, while at the same strengthening U.S. Japan political and cultural relations. This gathering took place at the home of Baron Shibusawa (seated front row, seventh from the left in the below photo).