Summer Festival 2010

Come to the Japan Center for Natsu-matsuri on Saturday, July 10. All are welcome to this Japanese-style summer festival. There will be various contemporary and traditional summer events, like the Bon-Odori (a traditional summer dance), Suika-wari (like pinata, but with watermelon), decorations, and cultural demonstrations. Japanese food will also be available for purchase: yakisoba, yakitori, beef bowl, grilled corn, omusubi, snow-cone, green tea, and more.

Date & Time: 7/10 (Sat), 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Place: NC Japan Center: 705 Barbour Dr., Raleigh
Admission is Free

Prior registration is requested by July 4 (email triangle_nippon_club@yahoo.com).

Children's Day Mochi-Tsuki

We will have a mochi-tsuki event for Children's Day on April 24th.

We will make mochi (Japanese rice-paste) together using traditional techniques, and also craft origami samurai helmets. All are invited to participate, eat, and have fun!

Date & Time: 4/24 (Saturday), 12:00 - 3:00pm (rain or shine)
Place: NC Japan Center, 705 Barbour Drive, Raleigh
Fee: Free

Japanese Tea Gathering (Durham, NC)

March 27
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Friends of the Gardens $15; General Public $20
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
Enjoy a traditional Japanese tea gathering and tea tasting to celebrate the early bloom of the cherry blossom or sakura. Stroll (weather permitting) through the serene Culberson Asiatic Arboretum to view traditional Japanese lanterns and to visit the new Durham–Toyama Sister Cities Pavilion on the hillside above the Teien–oike lake. Join us at the Doris Duke Center to see a display of Ikebana and Bonsai exhibits.
For details: 919-668-1707; http://web.duke.edu/apsi/events/outreach/eastasiainthecommunity.html

Ikebana Exhibition of Japanese Flower Arrangements

Friday, March 12
1:00pm to 5:00pm
at New Hanover County Arboretum Auditorium, Wilmington, NC
Visit the arboretum and enjoy Ikebana, the art of Japanese floral arrangements. Special guest exhibition by The Cape Fear Bonsai Society.

Zen Calligraphy Workshop in Chapel Hill

Kazuaki Tanahashi, a master calligrapher and artist, peace activist and Buddhist translator, will offer a weekend program on Zen Calligraphy, February 12-14 at the Zen Center of Chapel Hill. Kaz was born and trained in Japan and has been active in the United States since 1977, and he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally and taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Highlights of the weekend will include a calligraphy demonstration and art auction on Friday evening, hands-on calligraphy workshops on Saturday, and a Dharma talk on Sunday, February 14 that is free and open to the public.

Complete information on all of the weekend's activities can be found on the Chapel Hill Zen Center's Events page. To learn more about Kaz and view his art, see www.brushmind.net.

Japanese Film: Rashômon (1950) at NCMA

February 11
7:30 pm. $3.50 museum members/$5 all others
North Carolina Museum of Art, 2110 Blue Ridge Road
In a medieval Japanese forest, there is a rape and a murder. Four witnesses tell four divergent tales. What really happened? Rashômon stormed world cinema as the first widely seen Japanese film, winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and becoming endlessly influential. "The genius of Rashômon is that all of the flashbacks are both true and false."—Roger Ebert.
(1950) Written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Takashi Shimura. (88 min.) Japanese with English subtitles
For details: 919-839-6262; http://ncartmuseum.org/interim/events.php

Japanese/English Language Table

The next Language Table will be held Friday, November 20, 2009 from 6pm - 9pm at the NC Japan Center. What is a Language Table? It's a fun way for Americans to meet Japanese people to practice Japanese, for Japanese people to meet Americans and practice English, and to make friends. Home-style food made by volunteers will be provided (vegetarian meal also available). Participation fee is $3 to cover food and materials. Anyone who is interested in this informal cultural meeting is welcome to attend! For more information, please see the Language Table website.