Cryptomeria japonica is hailed as a beautiful plant, but although hardy in temperate regions, and probably planted somewhere in your town, they are supposedly more beautiful in their native Japan. C. japonica “does not develop as splendidly in America or Europe as in its native land,” T. H. Everett writes in his encyclopedia The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture, 1981.
Of its beauty he writes, “they are beautiful and have a great deal of character,” and he calls them “one of the noblest trees native in Japan,” but relates C. japonica “can be quite handsome [outside of Japan],” and they are “pleasing” as accent trees.
Japanese-cedars were planted in a mile long avenue in Japan, Everett writes of a British plant explorer’s account.
Sources:
The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture, 1981