Parks & Recreation

Japanese Culture and Lantern Festival, April 25th, 2009

His Honor Hiroshi Yamaguchi, the Japanese Consul General from Miami traveled to Clearwater April 25 to support Clearwater's half-century anniversary as the sister city of Nagano, Japan. Yamaguchi met with Clearwater city officials in a formal tea ceremony at Station Square Condominiums prior to Clearwater's Japanese Culture and Lantern Festival. He later joined in the demonstrations and festivities of the event on the street below. "I'm delighted to be a part of the celebration for the 50-year sister cities relationship between Nagano and Clearwater," Yamaguchi said.

Attendees flocked to Station Square Park where Japanese vendors and organizations provided merchandise, demonstrations and information about Japanese culture, language and commerce.
Around the corner next to Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts shop, audiences thrilled to the spectacle and sound of Taiko drums provided by Tampa Taiko and Masturiza Taiko, the latter group having been regular entertainment at Disney World in Orlando. Yoshiko Carlton demonstrated her mastery of the koto, a thirteen-stringed, six-foot long instrument that is played by plucking the strings. Carlton deftly negotiated the intricacies of several difficult pieces based on the Japanese five-note scale. Japanese martial arts were also demonstrated on the main stage, including Gulf Coast Kendo, or fencing, and David Walter's yagyu group, or sword arts.

As the sun dipped low, paper lanterns with multi-colored lights inside were distributed to the crowd. The sister city celebration culminated with a lantern lighting ceremony, reciprocal to a similar event held in Nagano. The Japanese city has commemorated its relationship with Clearwater each year since the two cities collaborated on a grand hospitality center at the 1998 XVIII Winter Olympic Games in Nagano.

View photos of the Japanese Culture and Lantern Festival event