Japanese culture

Christmas message 2018

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As we celebrate Christmas 2018, let us reflect upon the wabi-sabi of life. This is a Japanese term about accepting and celebrating the imperfect and temporariness of life.  From Wikipedia:
“In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.[2] The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.[3] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching…”
The reason I am urging this concept is that as the years go by, we all age (and physically deteriorate as we become elderly). I feel the impermanence due to the recent deaths of Tucson activists whom I knew along the campaign trail, Claudia Ellquist and Dave Ewoldt, Green Party members who ran (respectively) for Pima County Attorney and  State Senate. It’s hard to believe both are gone, as well as strong Democratic educator Georgia Cole Brousseau, formerly on the PCC Governing Board. Their powerful voices for social justice, education, and the environment will be missed.

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Spring Ikebana Festival at Yume Japanese Gardens

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“Once again Yume Japanese Gardens will be throwing open the doors of Yume Japanese Gardens for a week to the talented adepts of five different schools of Ikebana practice. The result: elegant floral displays throughout our grounds, museum, and art gallery that capture the harmony, discipline, and refinement of traditional Japanese flower arranging. Our Spring … Read more

Annual Tucson Japanese Festival on January 20, 2018

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Want to sample & eat Japanese food? Watch taiko & dance performances and kendo demonstrations? Learn to fold origami? Draw calligraphy? Learn about origins of manga and anime in Japan?

All this and much, much more at this 2018 New Year’s celebration, the fifth sponsored by our Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition and Odaiko Sonora.  Name change from Tucson Mochitsuki to Tucson Japanese Festival last year, so hence it is the 2nd Annual.  Performance schedule flyer (updated 1/17/18) below.

Mochi making and pounding from rice will be demonstrated.  Join us to learn about Japanese culture in Japan and in the U.S.

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Celebrate 5th Anniversary of Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson

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On January 15, 2013 Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson formally opened its doors to showcase a beautiful, tranquil Japanese Garden in the Southwest desert of Tucson, Arizona.  Celebrate it’s 5th anniversary on Sat. January 13, 2018.  “Yume” means dream in Japanese, which it was as the creation by Owner/E.D. Patricia Deridder, who lived in Japan for 15 years.

Odaiko Sonora, Tucson’s taiko drumming group (pictured below), will be performing at 1:30 and 3 p.m.  UPDATE: Schedule below.

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Annual Ikebana Festival at Yume Japanese Gardens

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Annual Ikebana Festival at Yume Japanese Gardens, 2130 N. Alvernon Way, Nov. 21 to 26 (except Thanksgving Day Nov. 23): ”A series of workshops in Ikebana – traditional Japanese flower arranging and techniques – extends throughout the Fall/Winter season and is complemented by an Ikebana Festival November 21-26. This bi-annual event is one of the … Read more