PHOTOPOST: 9th Cherry Blossom Festival at Balboa Park

Here's the follow up to the previous UPCOMING EVENT post, about

the Cherry Blossom Festival at the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden!

I wore a cherry blossom yukata I got at the Marukai Living store (Kearny Mesa)
here in San Diego!  They have quite a few pretty ladies' sets for around $60,
which goes for a cotton yukata + a pre-tied obi.  Pre-tied obis on their own
usually go for about $20, and yukatas for $60+, so it's a really good deal!
My sister dressed me & did my hair, I have the barest idea of how to put it on properly
but she's done a lot of research herself.



What I brought in my little bag:
(I'm not holding it in the picture, sadly.)

tissues * keys * small notebook * camera * instax camera 

* small pouch for cash & IDs * lipbalm

I also had a folded fan tucked in my sleeve, something else that was useful in the heat!

I had to park a long way away from the garden (again), even though we got there around 11am.
There was a really long line just to get tickets to go in, but it moved fast anyway.

As soon as we got in we hunted for a decent picnic spot!  I didn't have time on the way so
we brought a sub sandwich and some Caprisun in, as well as a can of royal milk tea.
(There was so much nice space on the grass but I forgot to bring a picnic blanket.)

[A was looking for what that "asian canned coffee/tea" flavor came from.]

We finally found a spot at the bottom of the garden to sit down.
There's a really long winding path from the entrance to the bottom, where they had
a few vendor booths with souvenirs & crafts.

It was really pretty outside, sunny with a nice breeze.
Actually it was pretty hot - definitely happy I brought sunscreen after all!
I wore geta and I usually don't wear open-toe shoes, and I felt my feet getting toasted.
I also brought an umbrella just in case, so glad that I had that as well!
There were a couple other girls my age in yukata, and there were a few ladies (visitors and
staff) in really beautiful kimono.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take photos!
(Kind of ironic, I had a couple people ask to take my photo... they should've
seen the ladies in kimono!)

They had a performance stage with different acts - we stopped to watch the preschool chorus,
they sang "It's a Small World" in Japanese (so cute).

The garden has an exhibit room where they were holding tea ceremony demonstrations!

There was also a small booth where two ladies were painting bookmarks - one of them

was doing sumi-e painting and the other was writing out names.

A & I each got one.

I also pressed a blossom in the notebook I brought - I couldn't find any fresh non-crushed

ones on the ground, and I really didn't want to pick a bunch of flowers from the trees, so I 

just picked one.  (Cherry blossoms are edible by the way, when fresh!)

I looked around for a nice photo spot for a while, and there was a tree in a less-busy

area so I asked someone to take our picture with my instax.  It came out really nice,

I was a little worried about the light setting because of reviews I'd read before. 

(NOTE: I'll write a review of the Instax Mini 8 as well, I've been using it since January in

a bunch of different lighting settings and I think I've figured out a method.)

If you went to the festival, leave a comment!
There were staff walking around and taking photos of visitors, I believe
they'll probably post those on the Japanese Friendship Garden's website.

UCSD Matsuri Festival 2013 Photo Post!

JSA + NSU Matsuri 2013!

Every year at UCSD the Japanese student associations get together and 

plan a large Japanese food and culture fair on Library Walk, at the center of campus.

I think I've gone every year for the last 3 years (my sister's made it over to LJ at least once).

I promised my friends and Austin that I'd wear my yukata to MF, but I literally

found out about MF -the day of-, so I didn't exactly have it with me ready to go. :c

Either way, there were a lot more people wearing them this year - including some people

with really fancy ones (fancy for a street fair anyway).  A lot of people who brought their kids

dressed them up in yukata, and there were a few kids in small groups who might've been from

the nearby middle school/high school who dressed up as well.

("Matsuri" is the Japanese word for "festival"...so the title of the event

always seemed kind of funny to me - "Festival Festival!")

The MC girls were so cute & hilarious c: I think one of them was an MC last year too.

The big attraction here is always the food!

There's usually some new/different booths every year, but they 

always have yakisoba, shaved ice, and ramune soda.  Lucky for me those are

the things I like the best so I always get them - shaved ice is a must, they put condensed milk

in the middle so the strawberry syrup  makes it taste like strawberry milk.  

This year they added strawberry daifuki, oshiruko, and crepes.  

My boyfriend really wanted to eat a crepe (I was super surprised because they're so sweet).

They also had takoyaki - it's always the most popular booth, and the line gets crazy long.  

They had to open a second booth this year!  I don't like it, but it's my sister's favorite snack here. 

At night they turn on the lights behind the booth signs and the whole walk looks really cool.

The balloon scoop pool is really pretty - I didn't win one this time.  I didn't manage to 

get a goldfish this year either, boo.  (Tossing a ball into a cup is a lot harder than it looks.)

The best part though is the paper lantern field (with safe electric candles, but you can't tell).

If you're at UCSD you should go at least once - it's a lot of fun, and the money goes to support the orgs

and/or a charity for Japan (this year the profits went to help people and animals affected

by the recent earthquake).  

Also it's open to everyone, not just students!  

There were a lot of younger attendees from nearby 

high schools / middle schools, as well as people from the area.  

So check the website around March next year to find out the 2014 date. 

Balboa Park 2013 8th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival

    
This was almost a whole month ago, back in March, but I wanted to post photos from it!

The event happens every year at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, San Diego.  

This was the 8th annual festival they've had - I wasn't able to make it last year because I

had an exam the following Monday, but I swore I'd get to it this year.

It celebrates the first blooming of the cherry blossom trees - in Japan it's called sakuramatsuri.

There's always a lot of Japanese fair food, and vendors - this year they had the grand opening of the Garden's extension, with a cherry blossom lane. c:  It's always really crowded as well, I've heard,

but it wasn't too hard to find parking a bit farther away (get ready to walk a lot though, the garden

extension has a winding dirt path leading to the small meadow at the bottom).

It was a little early in the season so not all the trees were completely blooming, but it was still really pretty.  

Probably the one rare time I actually got to wear my yukata - there

was a Japanese festival at my uni this Thursday but I didn't know till the

day of, so I didn't have the chance to bring it with me :ccc

My sister wore hers too (autumn leaves).

 The long vendors' alley down at the bottom of the lane.  There was also

a snow cone vendor, kettle corn, and a whole children's activities corner!  The 

stage with performances was a little further down the lane.  

At the top of the Garden by the entrance gate is Tea Pavilion - we climbed the path

all the way back up to eat lunch there because the festival food lines were insane around midday.

(The teriyaki salmon plate's really good, and you get a nice big chunk of salmon

with rice and veggies.)

 The day started out pretty chilly and grey, but eventually the sun 

came out and everything looked really gorgeous.

 Taiyaki's my favorite Japanese sweet, it's so delicious when it's freshly made

(they only have it frozen at the asian market...still good but not quite the same)

The guy making taiyaki - we got in line as the event was ending, we were

the 3rd to last people to get taiyaki before the stand closed!

Here's the official website from this year. 

I think they'll have it on the Balboa Park events calendar

next year again, sometime around late February/early March!