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…

Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in Brookline, Massachusetts

Not too long ago I had the chance to visit a Japanese style cherry blossom festival in Brookline, near Boston. It was held at the local high school. What really stood out was that the audience, as well as the performers were all participating. It was a dancing, drumming, very happy matsuri community. I also would like to point out that Tewassa, an organization raising…