Japan, the nation famed for its cherry blossoms and where the practice of admiring them has been around for centuries, will collaborate with the Meghalaya government in the Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival this year.
The state’s autumn tourism calendar was revealed by Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh and Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma here today during a conclave with local tourism stakeholders.
The Cherry Blossom Festival will take place on November 15-16 in, like last year, Ri-Bhoi’s Madan Kurkalang. Before that will be the Shillong Literary Festival, which was last year split off from the Cherry Blossom Festival, on November 12-14 at Ward’s Lake.
Last year there was quite a brouhaha when the Cherry Blossom Festival’s last day was scheduled for a Sunday, with certain groups complaining that this was incompatible with the Christian faith of the majority of Meghalayans. The first day of the three-day event also had to be cancelled due to a tropical storm. This year the festival has been scheduled for two days, on Friday and Saturday.
Asked about the criticism last year, Lyngdoh stated that criticism is part and parcel whether the government performs or not.
“But, the fact of the matter is you will realise from the sheer scale of today’s conclave, that tourism is the bread and butter and source of livelihood and Meghalaya, being the music capital of India, can only offer the best to the rest of the world through these festivals,” he said.
About the collaboration with Japan, Lyngdoh said that the partnership comes as a result of a suggestion made by the Japanese Ambassador when he visited the state last year. The Ambassador was reportedly impressed by the similarity of the cherry blossoms that are grown here with those of Japan and therefore wanted the two to collaborate.
