Even before I moved to Arizona, I was asked some questions about Japan
by foreigners and embarrassingly I could not answer their questions sometime.
I have never done anything involved with Japanese culture in the past,
however, a friend of mine asked me to be a part of the Japanese
Culture Club of Arizona which is a non-profit organization to
introduce Japanese culture to people in Arizona.
The club's board is comprised of six Japanese women ages from 30th to
80th with a lot of energy.
Our official activity started this year.
For new year, we held "Hatsugama" which is a new year's tea ceremony.
All the members wore Kimono and welcomed guests.
I wore Kimono only twice in Japan, and never imagined that I wore
Kimono in Arizona!
The event could not be as authentic as the one in Japan, however, the
guests enjoyed the tea ceremony very much.
In the spring, we held an "Origami" seminar.
We explained the history of Origami, taught how to fold Japanese
dolls, and made chopsticks holders, bookmarks, and greeting cards with them.
The summer event was a Japanese Cooking class.
The event was held at Robatayaki restaurant and it was very successful.
Robatayaki means grilling meat, seafood, and vegetables with charcoals.
These several years, Japanese food has been very popular in Arizona
and American people like to BBQ outside.
Because of those reasons, we think that the cooking class was
successful and people enjoyed it.
The fall event will be a tea ceremony at Raku Festival in Chandler.
Guests can enjoy tea and sweets, and take a tea bowl home!
At this festival, there will be a Japanese Taiko drum performance, too.
Ikebana flower arrangement demonstration, Kimono fashion show, Bonsai
class, etc... there are so many plans ahead.
By introducing Japanese culture to people in Arizona, I am actually
learning about Japanese culture also.
Maybe because I do not live in Japan, I feel like I want to be close
to Japanese culture more.
MW from Sun-Tec America
We can do it!
SUN-TEC WebSite >> http://www.sun-tec.net/english/index.html
