mercoledì 25 maggio 2011

Action for Japan Day

Last Sunday I attended Action for Japan Day, a charity event for Japan, organized by a local Japanese culture association.
There were a few stalls selling Japanese items and demonstrating various traditional arts and activities to raise funds for Japan: origami, go, bonsai, japanese cuisine (I finally tasted onigiri! I love them!), Shodo (calligraphy), Sumie painting, martial arts and kimono dressing.
I also met two of my Japanese lecturer from University: one was teaching some beautiful origami to the children and the other ran the stand of japanese items.
Although the event was rather small, I found it very interesting: my boyfriend tried playing go and I had the chance to wear a real yukata (summer kimono): it seems quite difficult to wear but it's very confy! (except for the heat, but I was wearing my clothes under it ^^)

We also bought a paper fan (uchiwa) with "Ganbare Nihon" ("Hang in there Japan") written on it at the calligraphy stand, a forehead band (the ideogram on it says "Matsuri", festival) and two set of ramen bowls and spoons (I often cook ramen in winter)
I did not know of the existence of this Japanese cultural association, but I'll keep an eye on their site, because they organize a lot of interesting courses and events (for example in June there will be a basic course of Japanese cuisine).
Bonus pictures: three amazing bonsai in full bloom, from the "Bonsai first aid" corner