Cambridge River Festival — Running into Japan

On Saturday, June 7, 2014 the Cambridge River Festival was held. It was a hot day with many people streaming past booths representing cultural aspects of Japan. Crafts, vintage kimonos, charitable activities and more were represented there. Many of these Japanese organizations are related to JREX, the Japanese Resource Exchange. Tewassa (related story),  (Tewassa Website),  an organization raising money towards aiding earthquake and tsunami victims…

Watching a Dragon Come to Life

Imagine a theater stage where, at the beginning, all you see is large sheet of paper spanning from one side to the other with only a few cherry blossom pedals painted here and there. Then and artist, dressed in a beautiful kimono performs a magic show just with a few brush strokes.  I never saw a modern Japanese calligraphy show except on TV and…