“Tucsonans will be able to share in the traditions of Japan with a celebration of the annual Japanese holiday Hinamatsuri, or Girls Day.  Customarily held on March 3^rd, this special day heralds the beginning of spring while wishing for the health and future happiness of girls with traditional hina doll displays, special foods, and activities.

This year’s Hinamatsuri will be held on March 1, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

 The centerpiece of Girls Day is the large, five-tiered display of ornamental hina dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, and their court from the Heian period (9^ththrough 12^th centuries) when the custom of displaying dolls originated.  Believing the dolls had the ability to contain evil spirits, straw hina dolls were set afloat down the river to the sea to carry bad spirits away, a tradition still practiced today.

 In addition to a stunning hina doll display, the Girls Day Festival will also include an exhibition of variety of Japanese dolls and several hands-on activities for the young and young at heart.

 Yume Japanese Gardens (www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org) is Tucson’s only authentic Japanese garden and highlights classical concepts of Japanese landscape design. Founded in 2013 as a non-profit organization, it includes a traditional stone Zen garden, koi pond, dry river, Japanese house, and fountains. The Gardens are located at 2130 North Alvernon Way, one block south of the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Contact the Gardens at 520.332.2928 oryume.gardens@gmail.com .”

ALSO from March 1 to April 30, a Japanese doll exhibit will be held at Yume Gardens, daily 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. “A fascinating exhibition highlighting the diversity of Japanese dolls in different mediums: ceramic, cloth, wood, and paper.”

Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) exhibit at Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, from Feb. 17 to March 3rd

Hinamatsuri or Girls’ Day is an annual holiday in Japan held on March 3rd, which honors the health and well-being of girls. The Girls’ Day Display at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures is a five-tiered display including 15 dolls and other symbolic accessories.

The display will be up from February 17, 2015 through March 3, 2015 (Girls’ Day). The Museum is located at 4455 E. Camp Lowell (west of Swan Rd.).

Learn more about this dispaly at http://www.theminitimemachine.org/portfolio/girls-day-display/

Aikido demonstrations and lectures prior to the film, at 1 to 2 p.m.  Admission $12. Loft Cinema is at 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. in Tucson.

“Yojimbo” is a classic Akira Kurosawa movie starring the legendary Toshiro Mifune, as a ronin (masterless samurai) who wanders into a village where there are 2 competing crime lords.  As usual he is caught in the middle of the conflict.  More about the film at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojimbo_(film)

More info at www.aikidoatthecenter.org.

“A Time”

by Fred Yamashita (whose family was interned at Heart Mt. Internment Camp in  Wyoming)

A time to be or not to be

To reiterate my show of loyalty

My love of life and land

Is like that of any other man

Then why should we be denied?

We can’t trust the “slanty eyed”

This can’t be real, this tale of fiction

Still I salute the contradiction

That waves so bold red, white and blue

It stands for freedom and justice, for who?

 

A time to see or not to see

What has happened to my family

To my people so strong, so proud

The tears they shed aren’t heard aloud

But anger and confusion seeps through the soul

And what we want America to know

Is that we will endure despite and within

The laws you have forged to fence us in

We will fight for you

Unlock these yellow hands

And with our blood, prove to be

True Americans.

Fred Yamashita speaking at the Pima County Democratic Party HQ

Fred Yamashita is the Southern Az Director of UFCW 99, United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 99, in Tucson, Arizona. He recited this heartfelt poem at the SAJCC tour of the Gila River Internment Camp/Relocation Center memorial in Gila River, Arizona on January 24, 2015.

“In mostly earth-toned colors, and with clear lines and mass, these works by Phoenix artist Ping Wei stand on their own as sculptures and also invite people to arrange flowers in them in the Japanese art form called ikebana.”

Exhibit dates: Jan. 19 – Feb. 28, 9:30 to 4:30 daily. Free with regular admission to the Gardens. See. www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

Visit to Gila River Internment Camp on January 24

Gila River Internment Camp during WWII, courtesy of Dr. Karen Leong

All day tour of remnants of Gila River Internment Camp (Gila River, AZ – south of Phoenix) & memorial.

Reservations REQUIRED. Contact DirectorRoss Iwamoto at sajcc@yahoo.com for information. This was one of the large Japanese American internment camps caused by E.O. 9066 during WWII. Over 13,000 Japanese Americans, 2/3 of whom were U.S. Citizens were interned here from 1942 to 1945.

Tour date: Saturday, January 24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $10 for lunch or option to bring our own. We will be car pooling to this tour site from Tucson and Phoenix.

Katachi exhibit at Yume Japanese Gardens opened on January 5 and continues  to May 5, 2015

“An untranslatable term, katachi connotes the essence of Japanese design. But one does not have to be an artist, designer, or connoisseur of Japanese art and culture to grasp it. As a concept, it expresses the appealing beauty, the refined shapeliness, the time-tested functionality, and the fine workmanship of traditional Japanese crafts that have persisted for centuries. We present 50 objects embodying these qualities”.

Exhibit dates: Jan.5 – May 5, 2015 9:30 am – 4:30 pm daily.

Free with regular admission to the Gardens. www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

Carolyn’s note: a set of my hanafuda cards are on loan at this exhibit.

For photos of this event go to our Culture page, or Facebook page.

Join us at 2nd Annual Mochi Pounding Festival on January 10, 2015 sponsored by Southern AZ Japanese Cultural Coalition, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  There will be mochi pouinding & samples, Japanese games (including Hanafuda, Kendama, Fukuwarai, Ayatori, and Go/Igo), origami, raffles prizes from local businesses,  Japanese music by Odaiko Sonora (taiko drumming) and singer Yuki Ibuki.

NEW location for 2015: Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, home of Odaiko Sonora (taiko drummers), 1013 S. Tyndall Avenue in Tucson (2 blocks north of E. 22nd St.)

More information/photos at www.facebook.com/tucsonmochi (public facebook site).

Event schedule below:

2015 is Year of the Ram/Sheep

Saturday, January 3,  from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Yume Japanese Gardens, 2130 N. Alvernon Way, Tucson.

“Pick up your brush and greet 2015 — the Year of the Ram — with a Japanese ink brush painting (sumi-e) and New Year’s card that you create yourself. Zen Tribe wellness instructor and calligraphy artist Yoshi Nakano will show you how to write your name and New Year’s greetings in Japanese and how to create an image of a ram with deft brush strokes that you can mail to friends or frame for your wall.

Carolyn Classen will teach you games played with traditional flower-decorated hanafuda cards as you eat Japanese sweets and sip green tea. Then, take in a gallery of Yoshi’s inspirational abstract calligraphy that he calls “brush art meditation.” All activities are free with regular admission to the Gardens”,www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

Sansei Carolyn Sugiyama Classen learned to play hanafuda as a small child in Hawaii, has taught it at the Tucson Origami Club and to the APASA (Asian Pacific American Student Assn.) at the University of Arizona.

Hanafuda cards