Highlights of the Cherry Blossom Festival

By Barbara Trevor

Girl vs. Beans

Like most festivals and events around the world, food has become an integral part of the experience. The Washington, DC Cherry Blossom Festival is no exception. Hot dogs are to American baseball as yakisoba is to Japanese festivals. And since there seems to be a spirit or god for everything in Japan, I would not be surprised if there were a kami for yakisoba -- whom I bet was in attendance at this year's festival. At festivals, the parades and ceremonies were designed to bring out the spirit or kami out and people would accompany it on its journey from its home shrine to a temporary home for the festival. The parades were also meant to be a way for the people to show the kami their devotion and enthusiasm for the event.

The food took center stage and the crowd just ate it up. Never have I seen lines this long for food at the Cherry Blossom Festival. Pun intended. The food has taken such a hold on the crowd, that this year's festival seemed to center around eating instead of the cultural events. The wait for food or drink was about 15 minutes on average no matter where you went. The great food was worth the waiting time as always. Lines went down the street into other food lines and chaos ensued. A typical conversation in the food lines went like this:

"Are you waiting for the udon or the takoyaki?"

"Oh, I'm waiting for the Japanese sweets."

Chopstick Lessons

"Oh..." (!?... Am I in the right line?)

I had been to the Cherry Blossom Festival before moving to Japan and every time I went there was a comprehensive schedule of events listed online or in the program that was handed out. I would always make time for the martial arts- aikido, kendo etc. since those were (I think) one of the best things to watch at the festival. Originally that was going to be the basis for my article- but as the events changed I had to change with them and consequently so did my article.

This is the first time that I have not seen a schedule listed for the events at the Cherry Blossom Festival. The events seem to have been arranged in a 'if you come you will eventually see this' type of thing which threw me off as I picked up my program that warm Saturday morning. Where was the kendo demo? What about the taiko performance? With no direction to go in, I did my rounds around the tents to see what was hot and what was not.

What was hot: Food, Kids Corner, DDR/J-Pop Land, Beer Garden.

Learning to Write

But things eventually sorted themselves out and everyone left satisfied and full of food.

The Kids Corner and J-Pop Land had a constant crowd of onlookers and participants. The children's chopsticks lessons were a popular area (for both kids and adults) with areas for beans, colorful cereals, and other hard-to-get objects to challenge your skills. J-Pop Land gathered quite a crowd for the costumed hardcore karaoke performances on stage. The Dance Dance Revolution area always had a line of wanna-be dancing stars and seasoned DDR professionals. Like every festival before this, the beer garden and sake tasting remains one of the most popular areas of the festival. Roped off for legal, the beer garden was packed with people sampling Japan's best beers and other brews. While my trip to the 2007 Cherry Blossom festival street fair was not quite what I or my friends anticipated, it was still a delicious experience. But next year, I am bringing my own snow cone.