I attended San Francisco’s Sakura Matsuri today. It really was very beautiful. I saw the Taiko performance as well as some classical dance performances…. And then I visited the street vendors which ended up being a big mistake because of how much I spent. I also heard SCANDAL in one of the stores~ I’ve never heard SCANDAL played in Japantown before so it was really awesome to hear them being played. My girls have gotten so popular, I’m proud of them. ( ＾∇＾)
More pictures will come soon in the blog.
This was a pretty impromptu outing today. I found out that the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival was happening this weekend and next weekend. I almost didn’t go when the anxiety set in this morning but I’m very glad I managed to push myself out of the house to go to this. I only stayed from 10 am until 2 pm but I enjoyed being there so much. I’ve watched videos and seen pictures from it every year but never had the courage to go until now. I’m not sure if I’ll go to the remaining three days of the festival but I’m considering it at least.
I guess at this point, many of you know that I live in the Bay Area of California. Up near San Francisco to be specific. In San Francisco, there are a bunch of little districts to preserve heritages. Places like Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon, and Little Italy were all created to preserve the heritage of the countries they come from. These places aren’t about “encouraging segregation”, as I’ve heard some people claim. They’re about preserving culture and heritage.
San Francisco is home to a “Japantown”, which is often called Nihonmachi (which simply means Japantown). It’s home to the oldest and largest Japantown in the U.S. There are only three Japantowns left in the U.S, those all being located in California (San Francisco, San Jose, and Lose Angeles). I’ve always enjoyed going down to Japantown. It’s a very beautiful and very down to earth district. It’s one of the quieter ones; many of the people who live there often keep to themselves. Japantown has some of sweetest people I’ve ever met in this city. It’s one of my favorite districts around here.
Every year, San Francisco’s Japantown does a Sakura Matsuri around the time when the sakura trees start to bloom. This is usually in April, occasionally in May if the sakuras bloom late. Most of the time, from what I know, the sakura matsuri is done in April. Sakura Matsuri, for those of you who didn’t guess yet, means “Cherry Blossom Festival” (sakura = cherry blossom ; matsuri = festival). This festival has been going on for 47 years now, so it’s been around for a while and will continue to be around.
The Sakura Matsuri is not only to celebrate the blooming of the sakuras, but it is also to celebrate Japanese cultures. A quick note here about sakuras (and why they’re celebrated)… Sakura trees are looked at as a symbol of hope and new beginnings. In Japan, a lot of things start in spring. For example, Japan’s school term starts in spring. It starts alongside the blooming of the sakura trees. So that’s why there’s always a celebration/festival around the time of the sakura blooming, because the trees symbolize hope and new beginnings.
So not only is it celebrating hope and new beginnings, it is also celebrating Japanese culture and the successes of Japanese-Americans. Japanese-Americans have a strong history in many places across the U.S, especially here in the Bay Area. It’s a very beautiful festival and honestly, it’s quickly become one of my favorites this city does… And San Francisco does a lot of festivals. It’s sort of our thing. I’m very thankful I got to experience this, it’s a wonderful display of Japanese culture and an amazing way to celebrate it.
So, my day? I got to Japantown around 10:30 am, give or take a few minutes…. So it was more like 10:11 but who cares. The first event didn’t really start until 12:15 pm and most stores didn’t open until 11. So I found myself a spot underneath the large sakura tree you saw up there and waited. Once 11 came, I started to wander and found a bunch of neat shops I haven’t been to in forever. I found an anime store and got myself a Kyubei doll and Sylveon doll. I also bought a really cute rabbit jacket from one of the vendors. It’s frilly and lacy and adorable. It’s about the most feminine thing I’ve bought in like forever but I absolutely adore it. It’s got the full thing, even rabbit ears on the hood.
Once noon came, I headed back to the Peace Plaza to wait for the Taiko performance.
Taiko, for those of you who don’t know, are Japanese drums. They have been used since ancient times and they are known for their strong beat. Taiko does require a lot of muscle and stamina to play because it requires so much effort to hit the drums with enough force to get the right sounds. Taiko drums have a lot of history in Japan. They’ve been used in everything from motivating soldiers in a war to attempting to end a drought. The latter seems strange, no? There’s mythology surrounding the Taiko where it’s believed the drums can awaken a god by simulating thunder and it will make ti rain….. I hope it works because this area could really use some rain.
The funny part is that when they were performing a song called “California Wind”, the clouds came back. It was really sunny when their performance started and halfway through, the clouds came back and the wind picked up. The sun came back out once their performance was done. It was a pretty fun coincidence given the history of Taiko used to call in the rain.
I loved the performance. The drums are a lot stronger in person than they are on camera. I’ve never seen Taiko live before in person so it was definitely a nice treat. The energy of the performers was very admirable, they were very into their performance and you could see the passion they played with.
When the Taiko performance was done, it lasted about an hour, I decided I was hungry. I went into one of the malls and decided to visit a candy store. While I was staring at the mochi and deciding which one I wanted, I noticed a very familiar voice.
After listening to it, I noticed the voice… It was my angel Haruna’s voice~ (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ
The store was playing Awanai Tsumori no, Genki de ne by SCANDAL. I’m very happy with that. I’ve been to Japantown many times and I’ve never heard SCANDAL be played. Stores usually play the very internationally recognized artists so I’m extremely happy that SCANDAL got played. It means they’re gaining more and more international fans. I feel like a proud parent~ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ
I fully blame SCANDAL for me buying the mochi. I had not stood there for so long staring at the mochi while listening to their song, I might not have decided to buy the mochi.... Oh who am I kidding? I probably would have bought it anyway. Makes me feel better about how much I spent today to blame it on SCANDAL though. (*T▽T*)
By the way, mochi is a rice cake. The ones I got were special “sakura flavor”…. Basically they were mochi dyed pink with cream filling and covered in powder sugar. Mochi is good, you should try it if you get the chance to.
Anyway, after getting the mochi, I decided I wanted real food and not just candy (although mochi isn’t technically candy I guess). I went into Ichiban-kan and while I didn’t find anything that interested me, I did find this:
Is it bad that when I saw this flavor, the first thing I thought of was SCANDAL? Haru and Rina’s duo unit is called “Almond Crush” so…………. I think I might have a SCANDAL problem, Mibba.
Anyway, I went back over to the other mall where I found the candy store and settled on a bento for lunch. It was just a basic chicken bento but it was really good. Quite nice. I went back out to the Peace Plaza to eat and wait for the next show, which was classical dance.
The dances went from the children to the teenagers to the adults. The children were obviously very new at what they were doing, but everyone did wonderfully. I thought the dances were very beautiful. I’ve always enjoyed the traditional side of Japan just as much as I enjoy the modern side of them.
I came home shortly after the dance performance because I had reached my limit. But I’m very happy I went to this for the hours that I did. It was a wonderful and gorgeous festival. Japantown’s festivals are always a treat. They don’t do very many of them (at least not compared to other areas) but the ones they do are always very wonderful. Honestly, if you ever get the chance to go to a sakura matsuri, you should take the chance. It’s a wonderful experience.
The next festival for me is going to be the J-pop Summit~ I’m excited to see what the Summit has planned this year. It’ll also be my first year going to the Summit so I’m very looking forward to it.
