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Arts & Crafts Haiku Merchandise Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Sakura Days Japan Fair 2018

Sakura Days Japan Fair gave visitors a chance to experience Japan with hands-on workshops (calligraphy, origami, haiku) and amazing performances.  What a fabulous week-end!

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Several tree talks and walks were lead by Van Dusen garden volunteers. There were lots of cherry trees to talk about including the beautiful tai-haku (great white cherry).

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The winning haiku from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2017 were displayed in the garden for everyone to read and enjoy.

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At the Haiku House, you could attend a workshop, try your hand at writing a haiku, make a button, or take a guided walk to the haiku rock.

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The food was a major draw.

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Outdoor demonstrations included the forging of Japanese knives by knifewear.

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If you preferred to be inside, you could visit the vendors and pick up a petal mat or guide to Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver at the VCBF table.

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People gathered on the hill, sitting on petal mats, to watch the show on the cherry stage.

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During her calligraphy demo,Kisyuu disappeared behind the canvas to paint the back of the canvas while the picture was slowly revealed to the audience at the front.

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Hojo Hand-Crafted Samurai Armor Corps grabbed visitors’ attention as they walked to the stage to perform an elaborate play in full costumes.

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Two performers from Japan, Keita Kanazashi on the Japanese Drum and Kohei Honda on the shamisen, drew a big crowd with their amazing energy.

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Outdoor performances kept us dancing until 7 pm.

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The event ended with lantern procession from the Cherry Stage to the Visitor Centre.

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Sakura Days Japan Fair is two-day festival organized by the Japan Fair Association of Vancouver as part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. It took place at the Van Dusen Botanical Garden.

People who attended Saturday were able to walk over to Queen Elizabeth park to see the Sakura Illuminations.

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Cherry Jam Merchandise Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry Jam concert at Burrard skytrain

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off today with the Cherry Jam, a free concert held at the Burrard skytrain station in downtown Vancouver.

This year, several artists teamed up to offer a multidisciplinary experience: The Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra performed first, then stayed on stage to accompany two dancers and a Japanese singer.

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Chinese musician Ji Rong Huang played the er-hu while Dayna Szyndrowski performed tap dancing. I was blown away that someone had thought of mixing these two different art forms together. And they worked perfectly!

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Japanese artist Yayoi Hirano from Yayoi Theatre Movement performed haiku in mime while accompanied by the flute music of Holly Burke. (No pictures, but I took a video.)

Vancouver Okinawa Taiko group closed the show with powerful drumming and dancing.

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All performances were wonderful and memorable!

Festival volunteers at the VCBF table were handing out the 2016 Cherry Blossom guide which you can also find in this week’s The Vancouver Courier Newspaper and WE | The Westender.

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Spring came early, so all cherry blossom were gone at the Burrard skytrain station, but there was a birthday blossom tree at one of the kiosks, so I was able to take pictures of the blossoms.

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Akebono cherry trees are losing their petals, but there are plenty of cherry blossoms elsewhere in the city: Shirotae, beni-shidare, and soon Kanzan will bloom.  Are you ready to celebrate spring?

Don’t go cherry blossom viewing without these essential items: the VCBF guide, a cherry petal mat and a guide to Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver.

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Happy Cherry Blossom Viewing!

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Merchandise

Fall into Cherry Blossom Dreams

Blossomtime

In today’s overdriven society the notion of a regular, peaceful sleep can seem like a distant concept. However, having enough sleep is important as it impacts our mood, ability to make choices and focus. In addition to these short term consequences, there are a variety of long term chronic conditions that a lack of sleep are linked to, these include: type two diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. A lack of sleep also impacts our productivity in the workplace, it impacts our “concentration, working memory, mathematical capacity, and logical reasoning” (Harvard Medical School). This is why the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival brings to you Blossomtime: Guided Imagery and Music for Relaxation and Sleep.

Inspired by the peaceful and tranquil environment created by the cherry blossom the Blossomtime relaxation and sleep tape provides listeners with 43 minutes of soothing and melodic vocals accompanied with instrumental music. Blossomtime triggers deep sleep by using the soothing, beautiful imagery of cherry blossoms. It can also assist in helping the body heal by activating deep relaxation when the body can rejuvenate. After using the tape a few times, Blossomtime will elicit the sleep response and you will automatically drift off to sleep time.

VCBF Executive Director, Linda Poole loves to go to her favourite place amongst cherry blossoms with Blossomtime to take time out from blossom busyness, relax and recharge.

Background Behind the tape:

Lis Smith, social worker and clinical hypnotherapist. Lis has had years of experience in using imagery to instill relaxation in patients. Lis’ inspiration behind creating a cherry blossom inspired meditation tape was initiated by her time as clinical hypnotherapist, she would often encourage her patients to relax under the soothing presence of a cherry blossom tree.

Laurel Murphy is a singer and sound practitioner. She has extensive experience in creating music for relaxation programs. In an interview with Laurel she noted that she has “seen the effectiveness in combining spoken word with music for instilling relaxation”. Laurel was inspired to create the Blossomtime tape as “falling cherry Blossoms are an effective guided meditation tool”.

Blossomtime can be purchased at Banyen Books and the Garden Shop at VanDusen Botanical Garden

Consulted articles:

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences/sleep-and-disease-risk

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences/sleep-performance-and-public-safety