Named for the  Japanese cherry trees  planted here in 1912, Sakura Park has long been an integral part of International House. The City of Tokyo gifted the park a tōrō, a Japanese stone lantern, when New York became its sister city. Akihito, the Crown Prince and later Emperor of Japan, visited the House to dedicate the  tōrō  and returned in 1987 for a re-dedication ceremony following the park’s restoration. Residents who meet at I-House and later marry are called  “Sakura Sweethearts.”