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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Japanese ambassador is giving Kentucky 20 cherry blossom trees cultivated from the trees that bloom each spring in Washington.

Gov. Steve Beshear and Ichiro Fujisaki announced the gift Friday in Frankfort.

Beshear's office says the trees symbolize the continued friendship between Japan and Kentucky, where Toyota built a plant in Georgetown in the 1980s. Kentucky exported nearly $1.2 billion in goods to Japan in 2010.

In a release, the governor's office said the trees also commemorate the centennial of the 1912 gift from Tokyo to Washington of 3,000 cherry blossom trees.

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