The Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival Committee has been established with an ambitious mission to plant 1,000 cherry trees in the city by planting 100 trees every spring over 10 years. The cherry trees will not only beautify the landscape of the city but also provide a backdrop for the annual Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival, or Sakura Matsuri, which celebrates the close bond between Americans and Japanese in Tennessee. At the 2009 festival, Festival Chairman Ed Nelson and his wife Carol joined Mayor Karl Dean in welcoming the Regional Japanese Consul General Hiroshi Sato and his wife Yoko.