Seattle Japan Fair 2024

[hotdogsuplex]

The Japan Fair will be hosted on June 29th and 30th this year. Admission is free! They just realeased their program guide, which includes a list of vendors, food, and the workshops and seminars offered.

I myself am going to go on Saturday for the ikebana and tea ceremony demonstrations, the wordworking workshop, and to get some takoyaki.

Tea ceremony demonstration:

Food menu:

Some vendor booths:

Workshops:

Cosplayers/performers:

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll try to come

[taiyousea]

I missed this last year but I have some friends setting up as vendors this time, so I’ll be there at least one of the days Thanks for posting this!

[javerend]

ooh I saw this taiko group practicing last time I was down in seattle for the day and wondered if there was an event coming up!

would love to check it out if I’m free!

[taiyousea]

I had a really fun time! It was way bigger than I expected, I’m surprised it’s still a free event. I had their gyudon for lunch and it was exactly what I’ve been craving.

kendo demonstration ↓

tea ceremony ↓

hey! I was just asking about 百人一首 a few days ago! ↓

Lots of tempting merchandise and pottery but I need to be extra frugal for the next month or so Next year I’ll be ready!

[hotdogsuplex]

I’m so glad I finally went! I won’t go again today because I cannot do things two days in a row, but yesterday was really fun!

I tried takoyaki for the first time! My friend tried a bite and didn’t like it though

I was exploited. We were walking through the vendors, I was looking at something and suddenly my friend taps my shoulder and asks “What’s salmon in Japanese?” So I tell him it’s しゃけ, and he turns back around and tells the person across the table, “It’s shake!” And then they handed him something. It was a trivia question. He exploited our friendship for an eraser…

Sadly I only caught the end of the tea ceremony demonstration, because the parking garage was full and we had to park half a mile away

But I loved the ikebana demonstration:

Each person did two demonstrations, the first was with valla lillies, the second with horsetail and mums. Horsetail is abundant here, so I thought it was nice they they showed us a local plant! The host talked about how in ikebana, negative space is important too, and conpared it to wester ln flower arranging, where we tend to want to shove as many flowers in as possible. They all looked so happy and their happiness was contagious, and they talked to each other in Japanese a little bit, and I understood them!

At the entrance they had some ikebana displays lined up, this one was my favorite:

It’s so airy and whimsical.

And finally: I did the biggest double-take at the Gojo cutout.