Greater Victoria residents have their chance to savour, experience, and learn about Japan and its culture at the Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society’s 19th annual Japanese Cultural Fair this Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre.
“The Japanese Cultural Fair is the one day a year that our community highlights the vast variety of our culture in one place – it’s like a trip to Japan without the airport lineups,” said Tsugio Kurushima, VNCS president. “This year we’re especially excited to be offering a series of new lectures from Victoria-based experts on a variety of topics like our local Japanese gardens, woodblock prints, and Japanese cinema.”
Food is always at the heart of the fair – and this year includes sushi, bento boxes, sweet manju desserts, and the classic YYJ Dogs with special Japanese toppings that are only available once a year and at the fair. A special addition this year will be poke, the Hawaiian version of sushi.
Always popular, activities and demonstrations of martial arts, ikebana (flower arranging), the tea ceremony, traditional Japanese dance, and the thunder of the taiko drums will again be part of the fair.
The full schedule of events is here. Share your images and experiences on social media by tagging #YYJapanFair2018.
“We are proud of our culture and proud to share it with the entire community,” Kurushima added. “We hope to see a big crowd out on Saturday so they can enjoy traditional Japanese hospitality.”
The 19th annual free Japanese Cultural Fair is at Esquimalt Recreation Centre, 527 Fraser St. on Saturday, Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lectures include:
- Highlights of the Japanese art collection at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, one of the most comprehensive Japanese art collections in Canada, by curatorial research assistant Su Yen Chong.
- An examination of Noh, the classical Japanese theatre, by Cody Poulton, the professor of Japanese studies co-ordinator and advisor Pacific and Asian studies at UVic.
- The fascinating story of the Nitobe Memorial Garden at the Royal Jubilee Hospital by Paul Allison, the supervisor of gardens and grounds at Royal Roads.
- A look at some of the greatest directors in Japanese cinema by Donovan Aikman from the Victoria Film Festival.
- A sharp presentation on how to choose and use Japanese knives by Yasunobu Uchida, the owner of Uchida Eatery.
- The story of farm direct Japanese tea by Jared Nygard, the owner of JagaSilk.
c.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca
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