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Thursday, April 02, 2009

A Japanese Weekend

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Last week I was checking out events in the area when I saw that the Memphis Botanic Garden had a Cherry Blossom Viewing session. The description was:
Cherry Blossom Viewing
Mar 29, 2009 (12:00 PM - 2:30 PM)
Join the Japan Culture Club to view the Yoshino cherry trees in full bloom, prepare traditional unrolled sushi, and enjoy hands-on Japanese crafts and activities. $5 supply fee includes Garden admission. Contact: Sachiko Matsushita, Japan Outreach Initiative Coordinator
Well that sounded like fun, so Steve and I went to that :-).

When we paid our entrance fee there was a sign that said "Fish Food, $1." Having been to the Memphis Botanic Garden before, Steve and I knew that this was for feeding the koi at the Japanese Garden section. So I bought four bags :-).

Here are the pictures we took at the event.


Sachiko Matsushita welcoming the crowd. She explained that unfortunately, most of the cherry blossoms had dropped last week but they had preserved some cherry blossoms in a refrigerator so that they can show us what they look like (they're in that vase behind her). She also offered everyone to have something to eat--they ordered sushi from Sekisui, which is our favorite Japanese restaurant :-). So you bet we got some sushi :-).



The calligraphy table where you choose a character to write on your own fan :-)


Steve trying his hand at it. He's writing out "dream." He said it turned out more to be a nightmare :-).


The origami table


There was a big turnout :-). It got even more crowded about half an hour after I took this picture.


After having fun with all the arts and crafts, we figured we'd head on out to the Japanese Garden. Here are some outdoor shots:






It was a bright, cool day--perfect for going to the Botanic Garden :-).


The entrance to the Japanese Garden




Steve feeding the koi. Turns out buying four bags of fish food was just right--we were even able to share it with people that didn't buy any fish food but realized that it looked like fun :-).


They have some pretty big koi in that garden :-). Some ducks and a swan joined in the fun too :-).



Another shot of the Japanese Garden


Some of the cherry blossoms were still blooming :-).


It was a lot of fun, and we're glad we went :-). We also found out that the headquarters for the Japan-America Society of Tennessee, which sponsored the event, is in Nashville and they have even more events over there. So that's definitely another thing we're looking forward to when the time comes for us to move to Nashville (probably mid to late this year) :-).

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