“Join the JACL-AZ community to celebrate remembrance, resilience, reconnecting, harmony with nature (gratitude), and children (hope).
About the event: The JACL-AZ board is pleased to announce our first in-person community event since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
Inspired by Golden Week — a week-long celebration of several holidays in Japan that occur in late April to early May — our community will gather for several reasons: remembrance, resilience, reconnecting, harmony with nature (gratitude), and children (hope for the future). The event will also celebrate: Guest speaker: Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, J.D., Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition (Former Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye) Gold Saguaro Tribute Award recipients – Kelly Moeur & Bryce Suzuki Scholarship recipients Essay-challenge winners Appetizers and drinks provided. Space is limited, so RSVPs are required.”
Date and time: Mon, April 25, 2022 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 4 p.m.)Location: The Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix 1125 North 3rd Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85003
“The Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu (translated literally as “hot water for tea”), is a cherished ritual involving the preparation and presentation of powdered green tea in a highly stylized manner.
A host and a guest, wearing traditional Japanese kimono specific to the ceremony, will demonstrate how tea has been prepared, served, and enjoyed in Japan since the 12th century.
Tea will be served to participants adhering to current health and safety guidelines.
General admission: $25 per person (includes Gardens admission).
Member admission: $15
Advanced ticket reservation is required. “
This is a limited admission event to guarantee social distancing to our guests.
“Famous fifth generation stone carver and artist, Takaaki Saida, is joining us all the way from Kyoto, Japan. The art of stone grinding tea was first brought over to Japan in the 12th century. Green tea leaves were ground into a fine powder, added to a bowl with hot water and whisked into a frothy cup of matcha. This workshop is your chance to learn in depth about all forms of Japanese stone craftsmanship while touring the Gardens. This tour will include introductions on the hand chiseled stone lanterns often seen in Japanese Gardens as well as hand shaped stone mills used for matcha making.
Master Saida will demonstrate and introduce his hand hewn stone tea mill. Participants will have a chance to try using the stone mill on their own and grinding green tea leaves into extremely fine matcha powder.
Guests will use the resulting fresh matcha to drink a cup of tea as well as eat a traditional Japanese sweet while enjoying the Zen garden views.”
Advanced ticket reservation is required. This is a limited admission event.
General Admission $30 includes lecture, tour, milling lesson, Tea hand ground by Master Saida’s Japanese Stone Mill, tea sweet and Gardens Admission for the day.
Workshop Schedule: – Introduction from Master Saida on the ancient art of stone carving in Japan. – Strolling with a tour to discover and learn about stone lanterns in our Garden and in Japan. – Experience Matcha (green tea) ground by Master Saida’s stone mill with a fresh cup of hand milled matcha and Japanese tea sweets. – Q&A session with Master Saida
COMING: RITES OF SPRING A Butoh Performance by Funhouse movement theater
” The symbolism of spring as a time of new beginnings, spans across time and cultures. It coincides with harvest rituals and ceremonies in which many act as one to support the continuity of life. Funhouse movement theater returns to Yume Gardens on April 7-9, 2022 from 6:15 pm to 8:30 pm to take you on a celebration of harvest, myth, and ritual explored through the unique lens of butoh.
A contemporary, avant-garde performance art, butoh is a seamless blend of dance, theater, improvisation, and traditional Japanese performing arts. Butoh compels both performers and audience to investigate the primal, universal energies that connect us, and invites us to share an embodied experience of the collective unconscious.
Rites of Spring is directed by Lin Lucas and features Ariana Garcia, Sabrina Geoffrion, Karenne Koo, Lin Lucas, Sherry Mulholland, and Keita Tsutsumi. Visitors to this unique performance will encounter dancers dispersed throughout the refined splendor of the garden, each engaged in choreographed and improvisational communion with the sights, sounds, and sensations of the natural environment. Experience the wonder.”
General Admission: $35; Members: $25; Children 3-15: $10. Advanced ticket reservation is required.This is a limited admission event.
Yume sets capacity limits to safeguard visitors and staff and observes Arizona Department of Health Services guidelines for COVID-19 management. Timed admission tickets, purchased online, are required for entry; physical distancing and facial coverings are also required, in all indoor and outdoor spaces.”
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Yume Japanese Gardens and Museum of Tucson (www.yumegardens.org) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, located at 2130 N. Alvernon Way. It features eight examples of classical Japanese landscape design, a replica traditional Japanese cottage, a museum of Japanese art and handicrafts, an art gallery, and gift shop. It also holds seasonal Japanese festivals and classes in Japanese popular arts.
“An Interactive Samurai Performance and Movie Night
Join us in an interactive samurai show performed by Burai Productions, a Japanese Entertainment Group based in California, and learn about Japanese cultural traditions while getting first hand experience of basic samurai movements, sword handling, and manner of speaking. You will be challenged in a sword fight performance as only seen in samurai movies. Paper “swords” will be provided for practice.After this 40-minutes extravaganza, you will enjoy the movie “Uzumasa Limelight” (2014) which focuses on an aging background actor that specializes in being killed. The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles.Samurai performance and movie screening will take place outdoors.General Admission: $25, Children 3-15: $10. Advanced ticket reservation is required. This is a limited admission event.For more information, visit yumegardens.org or email Patricia Deridder at yume.gardens@gmail.com.Yume sets capacity limits to safeguard visitors and staff and observes Arizona Department of Health Services guidelines for COVID-19 management. Timed admission tickets, purchased online, are required for entry; physical distancing and facial coverings are also required, in all indoor and outdoor spaces.
In collaboration with the Japan Foundation LA, Yume Japanese Gardens is proud to present an evening of pure entertainment and excitement on Saturday, March 26 from 6pm to 9pm.”