我孫子市国際交流協会

Date: Sunday, Nov.30, 2008 10:00h to 16:00h
Venue: Abiko Civic Plaza
Main Theme: "Look! Look at My Home Country !" All the staff who had worked hard for preparation assembled at the Plaza's lobby to open the festival with a valiant hurray.
After being dressed by female teachers at the Japanese room, tens of kimono-clad foreign people, including some men and children, delightfully walked and were taken pictures around the lobby, gallery and hallways.
Visitors in and out of the city, Japanese and foreingers, enjoyed sipping tea at the tea ceremony corner in the lobby. Flower arrangements adorning the entrance area was the courtesy of the flower arrangement school teacher in the city.
The gallery's wall was filled with panels with concise information on the mother countries of the Japanese language course students, now 28 nations. Pictures, cloths, dolls, handiworks, and many other rarities representing respective countries were also displayed along the wall.
A set of handmade dolls displayed were so exquisite that it was unbelievable their creator was an amateur.
At the kids' corner, children were engrossed in origami and picture drawing, assisted by nearby unversity student volunteers. AIRA reported its yearround activities with numbers of pictures. Visitors showed interest in them and some of them looked impressed by knowing about its open and wide activities in, such as the foreign language classes.
At the snack stand, handmade chimaki, sekihan or rice with red beans, Japanese noodles, breads, hamburgers, cookies and soft drinks were sold. Available at the adjacent Korean stall were, nori and Korean-style harusame, Chapuche. Both were well-received.
At the hall, entertainment program started following a congratulatory speech by Mr. Junichiro Hoshino, Mayor of Abiko Cty and an opening address by Ms. Fumiko Kitajima, President of AIRA.
The first program was the all-lady Abiko-based Hawaiian band, Lei Paradise's Hawaiian songs palying. They played 5 tunes from the Islands' classical numbers to Japanese "mood songs", to which the packed audience responded enthusiastically.
The number of mother countries of the Japanese language course students is currently twenty eitht. About thirty studetnts sang "Let's Sing in a Circle!" in Japanese.The word circle is "Wa"in Japanese which can mean peace and harmony, nicly fitting to the occasion.
A Filipino student group sang a song, "Anak", meaning My Son, accompanied by highly skilled guitar performance by Mr. E. Montenegro.
After an interlude with stretch exercises led by reputable dance instructress Ms. M. Takahashi, the Chinese language class studetnts sang in Chinese a song titled, "Pekin welcomes you", which was sang at the Beijing Olympic Games in August this year.
Flowery dance performance of a twosome gave remarkable expanses, literally, to a famous chanson, "Please reserve the last dance for me" of the French class students.
In the narrative drama "Genji Monogatari" presented by English class students, the narrator, impersonated as Murasaki Shikibu, the author of the 1000-year old novel, guided the love story of Genji and his women. The six ladies recalled each days shared with the prince, who was played by the English teacher.
All the language course students showed their language skills brilliantly.
The grand finale was a classic Japanese number "Shizukagozen" accompanid by Biwa music and modern ballet. The surprising but splendid combination of old and new impressed the audience.
The 2008 festival was thus ended with success and concluded by the address of thanks of the festival leader, Mr. S. Tsukamoto.

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