By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Back in 2002, people gathered on the east side of the Bowling Green State University campus for the first Ohanami or Cherry Blossom Festival.
The year before then Ohio First Lady Hope Taft had visited along with BGSU alumni from Japan to plant cherry trees to celebrate the ties between the university and Japan.
The next year, Akiko Jones, who teaches Japanese and advises the Japanese Club on campus, organized the first Cherry Blossom Festival. The celebration is hosted by the BGSU Japanese Club, Japanese Program and the Asian Studies Program.
True to the Japanese celebrations, the event was outside on a blustery, damp April day.
From then on Jones moved the event indoors, into progressively larger spaces as attendance and scope of the event grew until it found a home in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union ballroom.
The pandemic waylaid last year’s celebration. “I did not want to cancel it again,” Jones said in an email.
The Cherry Blossom Festival will be presented Friday, April 16, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, April 17, starting at 2 p.m. at bgsu.edu/cherryblossomfestival. Click for schedule.
Jones envisioned a virtual celebration and decided that by using Zoom, she could engage performers from Japan.
Jones said she’s always wanted to feature music of the shamisen, a three-string, lute-like instrument. She engaged a professional musician in Japan who will present a recorded concert with a koto, a zither-like instrument at 8 p.m. followed by a question-and-answer session.
Saturday’s session will conclude with 8 p.m. performance of Rakugo, a traditional form of solo storytelling. “A Japanese funny talk,” Jones said. The performer remains seated and has only a folded handkerchief and fan for props. Jones contracted Master Shoto, who has visited Bowling Green in the past, to perform, in both English and Japanese.
The event will include some of the staples of the festival, including origami, both for beginners, Friday at 7 p.m., and for those with more advanced paper folding skills with Rob Snyder, Saturday at 4 .m. There’ll be a session of games, Saturday at 2 p.m.
Saturday at 5 p.m., puppet master Bradford Clark will give a live demonstration of traditional Japanese puppetry using recorded clips, images, and demonstrations.
And Saturday at 2 p.m. the university’s Kazenodaichi Taiko Ensemble will perform and demonstrate.
There will be a two-hour break at dinner time – participants will have to provide their own sushi.
