Inku
Japan Society of Fairfield County
Ohanami 2009

Cherry blossoms BentoOhanami at the Greenwich Japanese School was blessed by perfect cherry blossoms and better weather than expected.  The blossoms opened the previous day.  Anticipating a cloudy windy wet day, we planned all our activities in the GJS Auditorium with Mayumi Kleinman serving as Master of Ceremonies. President Harry Sakamaki opened our event.  Gregory Boyko, Honorary Consul General for Japan in Connecticut greeted us as did Toshiya Ito, Deputy Director, Japan Information Center, Consulate General of Japan in New York.  Tomoyuki Mitsui, Principal of the Greenwich Japanese School gave a welcoming speech.  We then enjoyed our delicious lunch Bentos, prepared by Sonobana Restaurant in Hamden.
Dancers      We had a full entertainment program which began with Junko Fisher and Miyagi Ryu Nosho-kai presenting 3 Classical Okinawa Dances from the Miyagi Ryu Dance School:
Kagiyade-fu (A Court Dance)
Nuchibana (A chain of the beautiful petals)
Kurushimakudocchi (Song of the Beautiful Kurushima Island)

Dance     Next Manami Suzuki (dancer), Michiko Kumagai (kotoist), and Yukiko Ishikawa (flutist) performed:
Hara no umi (Spring Sea)
Sakura (Cherry Blossom)
Chidori (Plover)

Karate     John McGettigan of the World Seido Karate Organization led a karate demonostration.
     Bob Karlon, Yoko Kurimoto, and Reiko Achiwa led our raffle.  This year we had many gift certificates, mainly from local Japanese restaurants: Sonobana-Hamden, Sakura-Westport,  Plum Tree-New Canaan,  Hajime-Harrison,  Matsu Sushi-Westport, ABIS-Greenwich, Shiki-Stamford, Kujaku-Stamford, Edo-Port Chester, and Oishinbo Market-Harrison.  All Nippon Airways donated a Nintendo DS Lite Game Console. Our members and friends  contributed 14 additional  prizes ranging from a large cased Japanese Doll to a bottle of fine wine.  The JSFC raffle helps cover the expense of our Bon Odori, which is a free event for the public, as well as our prethanksgiving banquet for the homeless.  JSFC vice president Vernon Beck closed Ohanami 2009 and announced upcoming events.
Outdoors      We thank our many members who helped us celebrate Ohanami this year, setting up, cleaning up, and handling the logistics.  We thank member Takaya Kurimoto for his photographs. We thank Sayaka Mitsui (a daughter of the Greenwich Japanese School principal Mr. Mitsui) for running the children’s program.  We thank the Greenwich Japanese School representatives, namely Mr. & Mrs. Mitsui (principal), Mr. & Mrs. Tsuji (vice principal of the school), and Mr. Shimura (manager of the school administration) for their support.
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