Hitachi Ltd. will be paying $400,000 U.S. a year to feature the giant monkeypod tree from the Moanalua Garden in Honolulu in its advertisements and corporate literature. Hitachi has used the tree’s image in the past as it is quite well known in Japan.

The tree is a vital symbol of Hitachi’s worldwide business and corporate identity, much like Nike’s swoosh or Prudential Insurance’s rock, said Osamu Hayakawa, sales and marketing director for Japanese-language channel Nippon Golden Network.