2009 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival (Denver Sakura Matsuri)

2009 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival (Denver Sakura Matsuri)

I attended the 2009 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday and as always it was a lot of fun (and those attending today I’m sure will have fun as well). I last attended in 2007 and had to miss last year but this year I promised Miwa-sensei that I’d come see her perform so I was very keen to attend.

First things first — time to check out all the outdoor vendors. ^_^

 

 

The Gimme Anime booth received a lot of attention, which I was glad for.

The owner from Sumo Fish (formerly Big Sumo) made his yearly trek. What amazed me is that he remembered me, both as a customer and a blogger. *lol* I love his shirts and buy at least two every year. I encourage those of you wanting some nifty Japanese-themed t-shirts to do the same.

Of course there were booths inside the temple as well.

There was a fair amount of tasty Japanese food inside the temple as well. I decided to go for a beef bowl and man, I have to say that it was fantastic. I haven’t had a beef bowl that good since I left Japan.

 

There were plenty of events such as martial arts demonstrations, various forms of Japanese music, and traditional Japanese dance.

 

 

Miwa-sensei’s group, Rocky Mountain Sankyoku, performed again. This year, only two of them could come, so they performed koto duets. Simply amazing music to say the least. ^_^

 

 

I didn’t hang out late to catch Denver Taiko (I had to get home to catch a nap), but I did get to see Taiko with Toni and Friends.

 

 

And what’s a festival without interesting people around?

 

 

I didn’t get a picture of the lolita girls. I say “girls” but they were all in their 20’s and following the lolita fashion that one sees in Japan.

The nice thing about the weather this year is that while it was warm outside (mid-80’s), it was still pretty nice. I had plenty of sunscreen on thus no sunburn for me!

So a fun day had by yours truly in celebration of Japanese culture. ^_^

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5 Responses to “2009 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival (Denver Sakura Matsuri)”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Why only a beef bowl?

  2. arimareiji says:

    This looks really reminiscent of Aki Matsuri here in Seattle – I’ve never been to Japan, but festivals like this are still really special.

    Now if only we can get a good yakisoba vendor… ^_~

  3. Anonymous says:

    You’re lucky, I was at the one in Brooklyn last month but the weather was pretty bad the day I went.

  4. AstroNerdBoy says:

    “Why only a beef bowl?”

    I have to be careful about what I eat. I thought about going for some soumen as well, but decided not to.

    @arimareiji — I wish they would have had yakisoba here but they didn’t. No takoyaki either. Come to think of it, most of the Japanese foods they had were “safe” foods such as teriyaki chicken, beef bowls, and the like. They did have manju but I had to pass on that. I wanted some though.

  5. Anonymous says:

    looks like fun
    i wish we had something like that here

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