The 30th Abiko International Festival with the theme “Soaring High Together” was held, adding two new member countries, Cyprus and Slovenia. Their participation to the festival made the festival more globalized. (No. 22-13) Date and time : Sunday, November 27th, 2022 11:00 ~ 16:00
Venue : Abiko Civic Plaza (Multi-purpose hall, Gallery, Lobby)
This festival is to enhance mutual understanding between Abiko citizens and the people from other countries. Last year, the spread of COVID-19 made the festival scale down, restrict the number of visitors tightly, and use video delivery . However, measures against the pandemic were taken enough to invite guests to the exhibitions at the gallery, stage events in the hall, the tea ceremony in the saloon and the kimono wearing experience like the same as the previous festivals.
As the people infected by the disease were not so small in number, AIRA did little PR activity.
Two countries joined the festival:
The Republic of Slovenia … Women’s Judo and Men’s Taekondo teams had a pre-games training camp in Abiko for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which induced the country to take part in the festival.
The Republic of Cyprus … The former Japanese ambassador to Cyprus lives in Abiko, which induced the country to take part in the festival. This year marks the 60th anniversary after Japan-Cyprus diplomatic relations established.
The followings are the events held at the three places.
1. The events held at the gallery
The gallery opened at 11a.m., when exhibitions and sales of folk craft goods, selling and tasting food, and offering tourist information of those countries also started. These were organized and run by AIRA’s foreign language classes’ students as well as Embassies of Cyprus and Slovenia. There were also booths for AIRA’s supporting members, the donation box for albatrosses, the report of AIRA’s activities.
＊At the Japanese class booth, folk craft works by the students were displayed and sold and some information about introduction of their class was also given.
＊At the Slovenia booth, Mr. Miha Grudnik, Officer for Public Diplomacy, Embassy of Slovenia, introduced the apiculture which is popular in the country and gave out cookies with honey for tasting. The booth was so popular that visitors came to the booth one after another during the festival.
＊At the French class booth, many guests came to the booth earlier to buy French bread and madeleine, because their number was limited. At the Chinese class booth, Chinese students studying at the Chuo Gakuin University displayed and sold panda patterned folk craft works. At the German class booth, visitors could enjoy folding origami Santa Claus and see a computer screen introducing the class on the booth.
＊The Cyprus booth, a letter by Ms. SEKI Izumi, the former Japanese Ambassador to Cyprus, was displayed in the booth for salutation and introduction of the beautiful country with brighter sun and full of nature. A beautiful tourism poster titled “Fall in love with Cyprus” were displayed on the wall to gain attention from the visitors.
AIRA set a donation box at the entrance of the galley to support Yamashina Institute for Ornithology which has been tackling for decades to breed more albatrosses.
2. The tea ceremony was opened for the first time in three years because of the infectious disease. Ms. Okada Souyu, Tea Master of Omotesenke school of tea ceremony, and her pupils started preparing for the ceremony before 10 o’clock. A poem was written on a strip hanging down from a big umbrella for open-air tea ceremonies. It says that the color of pine leaves is the same as that of last year but the leaves are not the same as those last year. This poem might symbolize the tea master’s feeling that each tea served is very unique for each guest. As the number of guests sitting in one tea ceremony session is limited, those who wanted to enjoy tea ceremony came to the venue one after another.
3. Events at the hall
The video to introduce Slovenia and Cyprus which participated in the festival for the first time and to show the activities of AIRA was broadcasted from one o’clock. The video of Slovenia showed mountains and river rich in nature, lakes, forest and gourmet dishes crops grown in the field which make “sLOVEnia Green” co-existing with nature and protecting green. The video of Cyprus showed sightseeing spots of love island Cyprus such as marine sports leisure, view points of the forest full of green, the towns with ruins etc. From 1pm, the stage performance started, emceed by Ms. WASANA Kida, Ms.YUKA Shibahara and Mr.MITSURU Hayasaka. Following the short speech by Ms.Kitajima, AIRA President and Mr. Hoshino, Mayor, self-introductions of the guests were made. Mr.Izumi, the former Japanese Ambassador to Cyprus also made a short speech. Ms. Vodnik Tina, Chargés d’Affaires ad intrim of Slovenia sent a video message announcing that they wish to deepen the friendship with Japan established through Tokyo Olympic. The followings are the events performed this time.
1) Ohayashi(musical accompaniment) and Shishimai (Lion Dance) by Abiko Furusato-kai (Abiko Homeland Association)
Abiko Furusato-kai are making efforts to carry on the traditional arts of the former post town Abiko in the Edo period and they performed “Ohayashi and Shishimai” which delighted the visitors with the wonderful Japanese culture. Also, they were surprised to see the SHISHI (Lion) removed the mandarin orange skin.
2) Mandolin play (by Le Lien)
The six players of the Circle “Le Lien” played “ Kitare Itoshino Mandolin(Come on Lovely Mandolin)” and “La Vie En Rose” with composition of mandolin, mandola, mandocello and guitar. The rhythmical and gorgeous tone attracted the audiences.
3) Performance of Hand Pan and Slit Drum (by Mr.Kang Xiang Hao)
Hand Pan is one of idiophones made of steel and relatively new instrument made in the 21st century. Such songs as “Yanyu qing dai”, “Subway” and “Wishes beyond Times” were played with low and gentle tone. The sound was spread over the hall and healed everyone’s heart. Also, Slit drum, a steel-made percussion, the inside of which is hollow, was also played. The clear tone coming from the hollow body resounded in the hall.
4) Nankin-tamasudare(by Yu-yu Kai)
Yu-yu Kai are trying for the cultural asset succession of the street performance and their spread. They performed Nankin-tamasudare in which they transformed specially made bamboo screens into various shapes such as fishing rod, bridge, circle etc. while chanting specific and rhythmical cheering words. To see the performance was surprising and impressing, too. Also, they handed over popguns to the visitors who seemed to have retrieved their childish innocence with its high sound.
5) Together in Abiko (by AIRA Japanese Class)
Some students learning in the class made self-introductions and their activities were introduced by video. In the video, the students and others were dancing to the song of Sumika’s “Magic”. Also, they danced on the stage together with some visitors to the song of “Magic”. It was so lively and exciting.
6) Learning Germany with pleasure (AIRA Eva’s Germany class)
The contents of learning at the class, description in Japanese/ German language, the streets in Germany, German culture etc. were introduced in video with German songs in the background. Also, paper, rock, scissors tournament was performed in German where participants spoke stein (rock, guu), schere(scissor, choki) and papier(paper, paa) in German. A prize was handed over to the final winner.
7) Tajikistan dancing (by Ms. Gulrukhsor Safarova)
The nature, culture etc. of Tajikistan were introduced in photos explained by Kei-san. Then, Ms.Gulrukhor wearing the national costume danced to the song of “Dilbari Jon”.
When all events have been performed, Mr. Murakoshi, Chairman of the executive committee gave a closing address.
(Translated by Ms.HITOMI Koyama and Mr.KATSUMI Nakajima)
