Happy Holidays at Yume Japanese Gardens!

Learn to wrap your holiday gifts in the Japanese style with paper or lovely cloth (furoshiki)  for two hours on Saturday December 14. Fee is $15.

Join in with members of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition (SAJCC) to pound mochi and sample some different types of mochi (and Japanese New Year’s ozoni soup) at Yume Japanese Gardens on Jan. 4, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at 2130 N. Alvernon Way in Tucson.  Odaiko Sonora taiko drummers will be performing as well.

“Mochi is Japanese rice cake made of a short-grain Japonica glutinous rice.  The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape.  In Japan, it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.  While eaten year round, mochi is traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.

SAJCC will be demonstrating how mochi is made by pounding with a wooden mallet (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu).  Two or more persons alternate the work, one or two doing the pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi.  Today, mochi making by most families is done with a mochi making machine”.

Regular admission prices apply, www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.  Contact M Craig for more information or if you want to volunteer to help cook and prepare the mochi, at morigami2@yahoo.com.

“For more than 500 years, Japanese have been arranging and displaying flower arrangements in the disciplined art form known as ikebana – “giving life to flowers.” More than simply an arrangement of blooms, ikebana brings nature and humanity together and attaches equal importance to other parts of the plant, such as stems and leaves, while drawing attention toward shape, line, and form. The exhibition features dozens of arrangements from five schools of flower arranging spanning the traditional to the modern. Entrance is free with regular admission to the Gardens”.  Hours of the gardens are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

“Enthusiasts of Japanese flower arranging will not want to miss a gala evening on Nov. 29,  6:00 p.m. that opens this three-day exhibition of ikebana flower arrangements. Japanese food and lantern light will set the mood for viewing flower arrangements located throughout the Gardens, including in our new Japanese house. Admission is $35 for non-members and $30 for members. Please RSVP by November 20 at yume.gardens@gmail.com.”

34th Southern Arizona Koi Association Koi Show, November 9 & 10, 2013

Beautiful koi on display for sale, judging & auction for 2 days at Kino Veterans Memorial Park, 2805 E. Ajo Way, Tucson.  See www.sakoia.org.

Enjoy an hour of classical Japanese music and folk tunes performed on violins and piano keyboard by the Tucson trio of Toru and Laura Tagawa and Shiho Takeda.  They will perform for one hour, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Yume Japanese Gardens, 2130 N. Alvernon Way, Tucson.

Toru Tagawa is the Conductor & String Coordinator of the Tucson Repertory Orchestra.

 Japanese Culture at Tucson Meet Yourself on October 12 & 13, El Presidio Park and Jacome Plaza in front of Joel D. Valdez Main Library

Demonstrations:

Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Folk Arts area at Pima County Courthouse courtyard, 115 N. Church St.

Temari thread balls taught by Fukumi Zapp (also furoshiki exhibit) of Desert Origami, calligraphy by Akiko Victorson, and origami by Chieko Nakano

Saturday,  Oct. 12

12:30 to 1p.m. –   Arizona Kyudo-Kai archery club, Church Street Stage

5 to 6 p.m.  -  Odaiko Sonora taiko drumming at City Hall Stage, El Presidio Park

Sunday, Oct. 13

1 to 1:30 p.m -   Aikido at the Center, Church Street Stage

4 to 5 p.m. – Suzuyuki-Kai Dance Company (kabuki style), Global Rhythms Stage, Jacome Plaza

For map/schedule go to www.tucsonmeetyourself.org.

Beautiful and peaceful Yume Japanese Gardens at 2130 N. Alvernon Way (just south of the Tucson Botanical Gardens) re-opens today after a four month summer hiatus.  Tea ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. will mark the re-opening for the fall/winter.

On Friday the Suzuyuki-Kai Dance Company will be performing at Yume Gardens at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 members, $15 non members of the garden.  “The group performs a style of dance called “Odari” which dates back almost 400 years.  The dancers of Suzuyuki-kai wear brightly colored kimonos and carry fans, which add to the beauty of each movement”.

More info at www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

Two Odaiko Sonora performances at the Rogue Theater on October 5

This Japanese taiko ensemble group will perform twice at 2 p.m. and 7::30 p.m. at the Rogue Theater, 300 E. University Blvd, along with special guests including Paul Amiel. Tickets are $20 general, $15 students, at www.theroguetheatre.org, 520-551-2053. Check out their preview, shortened concert on September 28.

More info at www.tucsontaiko.org.

Japanese netsuke and diminutive carvings on exhibit at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, September 24 to December 8, 2013

Tucson’s unique museum of miniatures will exhibit Japanese netsuke from the Phoenix Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, UA Museum of Art, and other private collections this fall. Opening reception on September 26, 5 to 7 p.m.  The Museum is at 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive in Tucson, opening hours are Tuesdays to Saturdays, 9 to 4 p.m., Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. See www.theminitimemachine.org.

WWII Internment of Japanese Americans in Arizona lecture

Az Humanities Council sponsored talk at 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Himmel park branch library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. (www.library.pima.gov). The library is on the SW corner of E. 1st St. and Treat Ave., south of Speedway Blvd. Photos courtesy of Dr. Leong.

Lecture by Dr. Karen Leong, Director of the Asian Pacific American Studies Program at Arizona State University, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies, and an Affiliate Faculty of History.

“Beginning in April 1942, over 30,000 persons of Japanese descent residing in the western states were removed from their homes and relocated to Arizona. This program explores the reasons for internment, the impact upon Japanese Americans, and the unique circumstances that divided the Japanese American community into those who were interned and those who were not. This program also explores every-day life in the camps for different individuals and touches upon the American Indian communities who served as unwilling hosts”.