Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival: a new event for March about friendship



Vancouver has a new festival centred on friendship.  The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is
the brain child of Linda Poole who was originally struck by how
beautiful the cherry blossoms in Vancouver are, and wondered why they
weren't celebrated the way they are in Japan…. (go see the movie
Memoirs of a Geisha for an example).

I first met Linda, when a new cherry tree was being planted on
Novemeber 1st, at Vancouver City Hall.  It was “Obasan Cherry Tree
Day” in recognition of the achievements of Joy Kogawa, and the efforts
to save and preserve “Kogawa House” and to plant a tree for continuing
friendship and harmony for future generations of Vancouver to
share.  Joy even wrote a poem for the festival:

Some of the planned events are:

Blossom Picnic

Origami Workshop
March 16th, Thursday at Vancouver Public Library

NHK Japan Screening
March 12th

Haiku poetry contest