10 New Attractions at the 2015 Cherry Blossom Festival

The 48th Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, a previous grantee of the San Francisco Japantown Foundation, starts April 11-12 and continues on April 18-19 in San Francisco’s Japantown.

The free event expects to attract more than 200,000 people “showcasing the color and grace of the Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese American community.”

The festival offers food booths, cultural performances, martial arts, live bands, the annual Queen Program, and more. The Grand Parade will be held on Sunday, April 19, beginning at City Hall and concluding in Japantown.

The festival announced 10 new attractions this year:

1. Sakura 360 - Embodying the spirit of the “new Japan,” involving fashion, gaming, and anime that are currently trending in both America and Japan. This new area, sponsored by Japan Expo, will feature local cosplayers and performers, along with all kinds of contests and fabulous prizes to be won.

2. Hello Kitty Cafe Truck - This is the first time the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck is making an appearance in the city, and it’s bringing lots of adorable desserts and pastries!

3. Pocky Truck by Glico - The Glico Pocky Truck will give away Pocky snacks on the first weekend, April 11 and 12.

4. Sapporo USA Beer Garden - Two beer gardens will serve crisp and refreshingly cold Sapporo Premium Beer. Must be 21 or older to be admitted to the beer gardens.

5. Social Media Lounge, Powered by New People - The festival’s Social Media Lounge on Post Street will be in front of New People. Stop by to play some games and win some awesome prizes, or watch interviews with local performers, DJs, and special guests.

6. The Japantown Mandala Exhibition and Art Installation by Suite J-Town, a First Voice Production - This new exhibition uses visual art, sound, video, and performance to convey the resilience and beauty of the Japantown community as it evolved over it’s 110-year history.

7. NCCBF Mobile App - The NCCBF app will soon be available for both iOS and Android devices.

8. New Dogwood Stamp - The USPS will announce a new commemorative stamp at the festival’s Opening Ceremony on April 11. This stamp will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. giving a gift of dogwood trees to Japan in 1915.

9. Miniyonku Club - Miniyonku, fun-sized 1/32 scale race cars, will make its first appearance at an open tournament on April 11, 12, and 18 from 10am-3:30pm.

10. Kendama USA - Kendama is a traditional Japanese ball-and-cup toy that has seen a recent resurgence in popularity in both America and Japan. The Consulate General of Japan is partnering with Kendama USA to present the first ever Northern California Kendama Championship – dubbed the “Sakura Classic”!

Learn more about these new attractions and more at sfcherryblossom.org.

Dowa no Omatsuri: A Festival of Children’s Stories

The children of Nihonmachi Little Friends (NLF) will present their annual theater production and auction, “Dowa no Omatsuri: A Festival of Children’s Stories” on Sunday, March 8, 2015, at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, 3301 Lyon Street in San Francisco.

Well-known community personalities Ms. June-ko Nakagawa and Mr. Benh Nakajo will serve as co-hosts for the theater program.

Nihonmachi Little Friends is a previous grantee of the San Francisco Japantown Foundation. Ms. Nakagawa serves on the foundation's board of directors.

Featured will be GenRyu Arts and the students of NLF. The preschoolers will present their version of the children’s tales of “Three Little Pigs, Part 2” and “Rainbow Express”. The elementary school-age children will perform an original story, “The Magic Diary”. A silent auction beginning at 12pm in the lobby will precede the 1:30 performance and will feature a special performance of live music by The Shut-Ins, a mostly acoustic combo from San Francisco who specialize in “hula-billy” – a fun blend of country-western, honky-tonk, bluegrass and Hawaiian music. A raffle and refreshments in the lobby will follow the theater show.

NLF’s school-age program’s performance features choreography by NAGATA Dance, led by Corrine Nagata with Angela Yuen Uyeda and Liza Kroeschell. Ms. Corrine Nagata’s role as a teacher and contributor to the world renowned Alvin Ailey American School of Dance, The National Dance Institute with Jacques D’Amboise and the Dance Theater of Harlem prepared her well for teaching all forms of dance and at all levels to a wide variety of students.

Nagata was a full term member of the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee and currently is on faculty at LINES Ballet's Bachelors of Fine Art Program through Dominican University and A.C.T's Master’s Degree Program. Her Outreach Program, Nagata Dance, services nearly a dozen public and private schools in San Francisco while Nagata Dance Studio, located in the heart of Japantown, offers all day summer dance camps, children’s ballet and hip hop classes, teacher training along with scholarship and community building programs.

Kimiko Peters, an NLF Board Member and parent with the program, commented on this annual production, “We are always overwhelmed with joy as the children perform on stage, and it’s such a unique and memorable fundraiser!” Executive Director Cathy Inamasu added that, “This fall NLF will celebrate its 40th anniversary, so this event is the first of several festivities to mark this special occasion.”

NLF has been providing quality childcare, educational programs and services for preschoolers through elementary school-age children and their families since 1975. Full and part day schedules are offered to over 200 children annually with a Japanese bilingual and multicultural emphasis. Through government subsidies and sliding fee scales, affordable services are available to all families.

In addition, NLF has a building fund in place, the Plant A Seed Campaign, to build an addition to its historic 1830 Sutter Street building. This new construction will enable NLF to house all of its preschool-age programs in one permanent facility. More information on this Campaign can be found on NLF’s website at www.nlfchildcare.org.

Tickets to the event are $30 in advance, (2 or more at $25 each), or $40 at the door; youth 5-17 years $10; and children 4 years and under are free. Proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit the programs and operations of NLF. For more information on the event, contact NLF at (415) 922-8898 or via email at nlfchildcare@gmail.com.

Hosted Bar Added to New Year's Celebration with Osechi Ryori

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation's New Year's Celebration with Osechi Ryori is next week!

At our event, you will have a rare opportunity to experience the traditional Japanese New Year’s cuisine called “osechi ryori” – an elaborate preparation of dishes that each have a special meaning for the New Year. We're honored to have Pabu, Sushi Ran, Sanraku, Yama-sho, and Delica as our culinary partners for the event.

GET YOUR TICKETS

We added a hosted bar to the event and will open the bar early at 5:30 p.m. Our official event start time is still 6 p.m. so if you're coming from a distance, you won't be late if you join us at 6 p.m.

Thursday, January 8, 2015
5:30 p.m. Open bar begins
6:00 p.m. Official event start
6:30 p.m. Doors open to dining area
Hotel Kabuki, 1625 Post St, San Francisco (map link)
Self-parking in Japan Center Garage, entrance on Geary Blvd, before Webster St.

This is the San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s primary fundraiser and allows us to continue providing grants to Japantown and Japanese American-related nonprofit organizations.

GET YOUR TICKETS

For more in-depth information about the restaurants participating in our event, check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/japantownfoundation.

We hope you can join us!

Spotlight on PABU, a Culinary Partner of our New Year’s Celebration on Jan. 8

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s special New Year’s Celebration on January 8, 2015, will feature osechi ryori, the traditional food and presentation prepared to celebrate the New Year. Because of the complex preparation required for the dishes, we’ve partnered with several restaurants to provide our guests with the most authentic experience possible.

One of these restaurants is PABU San Francisco, which opened in the summer of 2014 as a partnership between Chef Ken Tominaga (left in above photo) and star restauranteur Michael Minna (photo, right). Located in the Financial District, "PABU combines rustic, old-world Japanese charm with modern, urban sophistication to create a dynamic, social dining experience."

With PABU, Chef Tominaga and Minna are executing a modern take on traditional Izakaya-style dining and the restaurant has already been showered with rave reviews. Food critic Michael Bauer put PABU on his short list of the Best New Restaurants in 2014.

Chef Tominaga attended the Akasaka Cooking School in Tokyo. He studied the craft of sushi masters and adapted their recipes to reflect his personal style while staying true to Japanese tradition. He made his mark on the Bay Area food scene as owner of Hana Japanese Restaurant in Sonoma.

PABU and Chef Tominaga's contribution to the osechi ryori will be a dish involving buri, or grilled yellowtail. In osechi ryori, grilled fish are exquisitely presented in addition to preserved vegetables. All are prepared to be eaten at room temperature, and can be kept for several days without refrigeration. These morsels are tightly packed into exquisite lacquer boxes called jubako. In the original and classic fashion of small plates, osechi ryori offers tastings of a large variety of dishes–each with its own meaning and a definitive hold on every aspect of the flavor profile.

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation expresses our deep appreciation to Chef Tominaga and PABU General Manager Anthony Kinn for partnering with us on our New Year's celebration.

The public is invited to join us and experience the traditional Japanese New Year dining experience of osechi ryori on January 8 at the Hotel Kabuki. More event information and tickets are available online.

Spotlight on Sushi Ran, Culinary Partner of Our New Year's Celebration

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s special New Year’s Celebration on January 8, 2015, will feature osechi ryori, the traditional food and presentation prepared to celebrate the New Year. Because of the complex preparation required for the dishes, we’ve partnered with several restaurants to provide our guests with the most authentic experience possible.

One of these restaurants is Sushi Ran (SushiRan.com), the highly acclaimed restaurant by Yoshi Tome located in Sausalito. With top rankings from Michelin and Zagat Survey, and three stars from San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer, Sushi Ran has amazed diners for almost 30 years.

The restaurant was a culinary partner of our 2013 event and we’re thrilled they’re returning for our 2015 event.

For this year's event, Sushi Ran will be preparing buta no kakuni (braised pork belly) and a vegetable dish using Okinawan style vegetables.

Sushi Ran features a vibrant fusion of traditional Japanese and Pacific cuisine. "We are passionate about what we do, and take special delight in introducing our guests to new wines, great cuisine, and surprising pairings of food with wine and sake."

In addition to its rankings from Michelin and Zagat, the restaurant was picked as one of the top three restaurants in Sausalito by USA Today Travel.

In addition to playing a major role in our New Year's celebration, Sushi Ran is welcoming guests to its own celebration on New Year's Day at 4 p.m. The free event will feature dancing, drumming, sake barrel breaking, treats for kids, sake tasting for adults, and a traditional Japanese blessings.

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation osechi ryori event will be on Thursday, January 8, 2015, from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown. This is the San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s primary fundraiser and allows us to continue providing grants to Japantown and Japanese American-related nonprofit organizations.

Buy your tickets or sponsorships here, or by contacting Keith Kamisugi at keith@japantownfoundation.org.