2008 Woodie Awards
Cherry Blossom Festival
Melissa Cisneros
Issue date: 4/20/05 Section: Life
|
On March 27,1921 First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two cheery trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. In total 3,000 cherry trees were given to the city of Washington that day from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo. The Cherry Blossom festival is a way to remember that original gift over 93 years ago, it's message and meaning.
ISU Japanese Club will be hosting there Cherry Blossom Festival Night on April 23, 2005. The event is scheduled to take place in the ISU Ballroom from 6-8:30 p.m. A silent auction, dinner Mikoshi parade, Kimono Show and martial arts demonstration are all part of the scheduled activities for Saturday night. ISU Japanese Club was started in Fall of 2004 but has already sponsored and participated in several different events including being one of the main organizers of the Tsunami Night Benefit. Japanese professor Sachiko Fukuoka started the university organization as a way to exchange cultural exchange and promote the Japanese language and culture.
"The Japanese Club is here to bring a wide cultural spectrum to Japanese, we try to invite anyone we can to just join in and have a good time," ISU sophomore Sean Craft, the Japanese Club vice president said. "Every once in a while we'll get together and have a nice little dinner of traditional dinner of Japanese, and have a fun time. The Cherry Blossom Festival is our brainchild from last semester. We are looking to do some fundraising and reach out past the university and into the community. The biggest thing that I am looking forward to on Saturday night is the Kendo martial arts program. Kendo is the fencing style that the samurai used, and we will have a full-out sparing match between two of the instructors here."