The 50th Sakura Matsuri this year was much bigger than when I went last year! More people, more events, and more booths. Just the fact that they closed down several streets in Washington DC to have this street festival was a great awe to me.
If you missed out, here’s a recap of some of the sights that you missed.
The Tamagawa University Dance and Taiko Group hails from Japan and has been performed all over the world displaying their drum and dance of Japanese culture. The sounds of their taiko drums echoed through the streets of Pennsylvania Ave while their colorful outfits glistened in the sunlight.
There were several different martial arts demos. Boy were they fierce!
10tecomai is a Yosakoi dance project from NYC. Their vision is to show the fusion of traditional Japanese and contemporary dance styles as one to the world.
Spirit+Noise is a “Japanese junction” band. By combining Japanese tradition instruments such as the shamisen and western instruments such as the electric guitar they are able to rock out the stage.
There were merchants and booths all over the place! This salesman was selling anime masks.
Yes even he made his appearance.
Check out the Shinkansen high speed rail model!
Plenty of otakus around.
What better way to end this post with one of the famous poses the Japanese culture has brought to the world: the V sign. For more information of of this pose, please watch the documentary video by Wong Fu Productions.
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