2010 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival

I managed to make it out to the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival this year, though at considerable expense (like forced, unpaid furloughs for all contractors). Still, there’s something to be said to get away from a job like mine and get in with some Japanese folks and those who like Japanese culture. ^_^

I had a great time chatting with folks, including several anime fans (and let me give a shout out to Cataclysm19). As expected, there were many folks in costume and Japanese attire. I decided to focus on the non-Japanese folks this time because this year, I think the non-Japanese folks in kimonos, yukatas, happi, haori, and Chinese outfits outnumbered the Japanese folks wearing them.

My favorite vendor, Brant Fuse, had his Sumo Fish stand set up. I always buy a shirt or two from him and he always thanks me for sending him some extra business (so let him know I sent you if you buy something from him). I meant to ask him why the change of name from “Big Sumo” to “Sumo Fish” but business appeared to be pretty good for him and I didn’t want to take too much of his time.

I stopped by the Gimme Anime booth and spoke with the owner. While I didn’t purchase anything (already had everything I might have wanted), I was happy to hear that his business was doing a good bit of trade that day and every time I passed by their booth, there was always a crowd. He did say that overall, business is down due to the economy. If you buy anything from them, let them know I sent ya. ^_^

I ended up spending a lot more than intended but I was just in the mood to buy stuff and support these businesses. While I didn’t grab any pictures, I did pick up stuff from Denver Taiko (great taiko music and they are about to record a new CD), Bushido Designs (website is having problems as of this posting), and Create In Me.

I got to see Miwa-sensei again, which was really nice since I had to drop the Japanese Language School class she taught due to my insane work schedule. She’s part of Rocky Mountain Sankyoku and plays a koto.

Speaking of music, the DJ in charge of tunes between events on the main stage played some music that I found completely awesome. I chatted with him and discovered the Yoshida Brothers (the song they currently have playing on their YouTube Channel rocks).

Food-wise, I was a bit disappointed this year. Usually, the sukiyaki beef bowls are quite good but this year, while the flavor was fine, the quality of beef they used was rather substandard I thought. There were no takoyaki samples given this year and while I did see one person with onigiri, apparently there wasn’t much of it since there was none to be purchased. I did try somen and while it is OK, it isn’t something I’d actively seek out. Frankly, I’d like to see more Japanese foods done at this event. I want to see yakitori, yakisoba, and takoyaki in addition to somen, sukiyaki beef bowls, and teriyaki chicken.

I made a pit stop to Pacific Mercantile Exchange to pick up some stuff. Sadly, they were out of melon pan, which was a disappointment, but I scored some other bread products instead. ^_^ I also took the time to get some of the extra hot Golden Curry large package (normal supermarkets usually just carry the mild and on rare occasions, the hot one and in the small size). I also restocked my gyoza and shumai supply. ^_^

So a fun, but exhausting day yesterday.