Digital News Report – The 25th Annual Japanese Cultural Fair is going on this Saturday, June 18, between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The event is free to attend. The festival will have booths selling Japanese foods, arts and crafts. There will be several performances based on the Japanese culture.
Scheduled to perform is the Watsonville Taiko Drummers, which has 20 drummers in their group. The drums vary in size. They also do acrobatics along with the rhythmic beat.
There will be music performed on a Koto ancient zither. There will be Japanese Kyogen theatre shows. Japanese dances such as shamisen, Bon odori, and Okinawan styles will be performed at the fair.
Special food booths will have traditional Japanese food and drinks. There will also be art and crafts booths that will have sumi ink painting, haiku poetry, and flute-making activities. Paper art, jewelry, textiles, ceramic arts will also be at the art booths.
Special art will be on display that is from Shingu, Japan. This is part of ‘The Sister Cities Committee,’ who exchanges artwork with the Japanese city. The group will also be selling soft drinks.
Kids will also have activities available special for them. Other interesting attractions include a tea ceremony demonstration. There will be Ikebana flower arranging demonstration. The Watsonville Bonsai Club will have a presentation. There also will be martial arts demonstration by Aikido of Santa Cruz.
Raffle prizes will be going on throughout the day. To close out the event, the San Francisco Taiko drummers will perform.
There will be free shuttle service between the County Building parking lot going to and from the event. The shuttle buses are making stops at County Building(Ocean & Water St.), Civic Auditorium(Church St.), Mission Plaza Park and run every 15 minutes. There is also free Bike Valet provided by People Power.
For more information about the event visit http://www.jcfsantacruz.org/.
By: Greg Cook