Last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this annual doll exhibit at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures was cancelled. It’s back this year, started up on April 7 and will continue to May 16, 2021.

April 7, 2021 – May 16, 2021, Mini Time Museum of Miniatures at 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive, west of Swan Rd.

“Tango no Sekku or Children’s Day is a Japanese national holiday celebrating the healthy growth and development of children, especially boys. The purpose of the holiday is to encourage children to grow to be strong leaders and powerful individuals. Celebrated on May 5^th, Children’s Day became a national holiday in 1948. Prior to that time many people celebrated May 5^th as Boys’ Day. In celebration of the holiday schools have the day off and many families plan outings to fun places like amusement parks. Preceding Children’s Day is Girls’ Day. There are many comparable traditions between the two celebrations, such as setting up a tiered display of traditionally dressed dolls and accessories. These traditional displays of figures and other objects are called Musha Ningyo.

The Children’s Day Display at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures dates to the mid-20th century and was donated to the museum in 2014 by Nancy Phillips.”

Children’s Day Display

On April 9, the SAJCC Council of 13 members voted to be one of the undersigned organizations in the attached letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, expressing sentiment against anti-Asian violence in Arizona and the nation. The vote was 12-0-1.

Copy of the letter from Japanese American Citizens League of Arizona (Glendale, AZ) below.

SAJCC Council also voted 12-0-1 to sign on to a similar letter of April 8, 2021 to Governor Ducey from the Asian Corporate and Entrepreneur Leaders (ACEL of Tempe, AZ), and numerous other organizations and businesses in Arizona. (See article at bottom, with hyperlink)

ACEL letter is included here:
https://blogforarizona.net/asian-american-organizations-send-letters-to-governor-ducey-against-anti-asian-violence/

Event by Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson

by Funhouse movement theater

April 8-10, 2021 at 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm

 “Join us for Poetry Stones, an exploration of form, movement, and spirit, performed by Funhouse movement theater, directed by Lin Lucas, and featuring visiting artist, Joan Laage, a Northwest butoh pioneer and student of butoh masters Kazuo Ohno and Yoko Ashikawa.

A contemporary, avant-garde performance art, butoh (舞踏, Butō) is the product of the tumultuous, post-war Japanese experience. A seamless blend of dance, theater, improvisation, German Expressionist dance, and traditional Japanese performing arts, butoh compels both performers and spectators to investigate primal ideas, emotions, and energies bringing the collective unconscious into the light. 

Visitors to this unique butoh performance will encounter dancers and musicians dispersed throughout the refined splendor of the garden, each engaged in improvisational communion with the sights, sounds, and sensations of the natural environment. Prepare to be moved.

The participation in this event will be scheduled in increments of 1 hour per time slot (6:30pm-7:30pm OR 7:30pm-8:30pm) to guarantee social distancing to our visitors. This is a limited admission event.”

General admission: $25

Member admission: $18

Purchase tickets: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/yumejapanesegardens/501881#

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/yumejapanesegardens/501881#

The Phoenix Arizona Matsuri has announced the winners of the 2021 Haiku contest.

Tucsonans Karen Falkenstrom, Director of Odaiko Sonora won in the Adult/University category, and Miki Pimienta won three awards in the Japanese Language category. Both Karen and Miki are on the SAJCC Council, and Miki, originally from Japan, has won these haiku contests every year since 2015. Karen was also Treasurer of SAJCC for a few years. Also winning 3 awards is Raquelle Wuollet, a student at Basis Oro Valley High School.

Karen’s winning haiku (page 20):

“Hummingbirds, soft jewels,

Sear the air around a flower-

Mine, for an instant”

Miki’s winning haiku (selection from her two winning haiku, one honorable mention. pages 26, 30):

川底に 足跡残し 獣行く

“Kawazoko ni

Ashiato nokoshi

Shishi iku”

(English translation: In the riverbed, Footprints remain, Beasts go)

Raquelle won two awards and also an honorable mention (pages 15,16,18). Here’s one of her winners:

“Shining desert stars

Lanterns for javelinas

Beacons for the bats”

Congratulations to all winners!. 2021 eBook haiku are listed here:

https://ffec89fd-56a7-4efa-b620-7f52bc851c28.filesusr.com/ugd/ef81d7_04bdc1968f034e99998bb31a9e8e0099.pdfh

“Join the University of Arizona Center for Buddhist Studies for our
Pu Yin Lecture Spring 2021
Co-sponsored by the Pu Yin Education Center, ChinaBUDDHISM AND PROTEST IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN: BUDDHIST PRIESTS AS ARBITERS OF CONFLICTS IN LOCAL COMMUNITIESTakashi Miura, Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, the University of ArizonaThursday, April 8, 2021, 4 PM Mountain Standard Time (MST)Other time zones include:
4 PM (PST) (Los Angeles)
7 PM (EST) (New York)
12 AM (Fri. April 9) (GMT) (London)
7 AM (Fri. April 9) (CST) (Beijing)
8 AM (Fri. April 9) (JST) (Tokyo)Please verify the time in your area via a time zone calculator as Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time.
To receive a link to the webinar, please sign up for our email list here: http://eepurl.com/gb2yaD. If you are already on our list, you will receive the link soon.
Buddhist priests were frequent participants in peasant protests in Tokugawa Japan (1603–1867). In many cases, local priests served as mediators between villagers and authorities, and their contributions are highlighted in extant records (both written and oral) that portray them as competent negotiators who pressured government officials to embody the ideal of “benevolent governance” (jinsei). Yet, some records also present Buddhist priests as lazy and corrupt, neglecting to perform their mediating duties and failing to protect the interests of local communities. This presentation examines the complex positionality of Buddhist institutions and their representatives in local communities in early modern Japan utilizing resources traditionally reserved for the study of peasant protests.
These lecture series are made possible thanks to the generous support from Pu Yin Education Center and Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, China. For more information about our lecture series, please visit our website: https://cbs.arizona.edu/lecture-series.”

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