Special importance this year of Washington, DC's National Cherry Blossom Festival

With the blooming of the sakura, or cherry blossoms, in Washington, DC comes the National Cherry Blossom Festival. This is always a special festival for the nation's capital, but with the opening ceremonies just 15 days following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it is that much more poignant.  Here is a CNN video on this issue, with a dear friend Noritaka Takezawa, describing what the sakura mean to him and other Japanese this year.