masaoki taught agriculture during wartime. when his students left to go to battle he pointed to a cherry tree and told them to come back to that spot. many never did. the war situation grew worse for japan. masaoki received reports of the deaths of the young men he had known. >> translator: my father said he told them to come back to the cherry tree, but more than half of them died. he said he was very sorry. >> reporter: masaoki got the idea of creating a new variety of the cherry tree that would bloom in any climate to mourn for his students. he collected more than 200 kinds and worked on cross-fertilizing them for 30 years. what worked was a combination of the taiwan cherry and the amagi-yoshino type. taiwan cherry withstands hot weather, its blossoms are bright pink. amagi-yoshino puts up with sea breezes and cold. its flowers are yellow and white. yoko was born of that parentage. masaoki sent more than 50 thousand trees to the countries where his students had died including china, south korea and the philippines. after hi