NY Sakura Matsuri- WHAT AN AWESOME EVENT!

A few weeks ago I posted on a huge event taking place in Brooklyn NY called SAKURA MATSURI. This was the first major Japanese culture even that I have been to since moving to NYC and I can tell you I had an amazing time and it made me miss Japan even more. I had no clue that the venue which the event was held at (Brooklyn Botanical Garden) Has 220 cherry trees. All were at full bloom and very much breathtaking!

I was only able to attend the events on the first day (May 2nd)but it was truly event filled. I started off the day waiting in a rather long line to get in. (I had no idea that this event was so popular) The forecast called for rain but surprisingly and thankfully it turned out to be warm and sunny, which made being around all the flowers even more enjoyable














My fried ad I started out just walking about the gardens, the place is quite large and it was quite crowded.



Saw quite a few people dressed up in goth and cosplay! My friend wasn't used to seeing this and so most of her pictures of that day were of every kinda of anime character you could imagine. She loved it, but not enough to dress up herself ^^.

The festival had 50 events between the two days but I was only able to go to a few.The performances range from traditional Japanese music and dance to concerts by some of Japan's hottest J-pop stars, plus taiko drumming, an anime voice actor panel, bonsai pruning workshops, J-pop DJs, a traditional kimono show, and demonstrations and workshops.
I found myself listening to some jams at the j-lounge.. this was so cute too because there was a child who wandered out near the stage and was dancing along with the music. I have video somewhere and will post once I find it.






Next was the main event for me of the day .. the Samurai troop. This MUST have been the main highlight of the day as there wasn't a really good spot to see when we got there. I did find a space and took some photos but you really had to be there and se them fight. It was done in a story about Genji and the action was very exciting. They even used real swords. The choreography was well done and it had me on my toes at some moments. (Also some of the samurai guys were pretty cute so that was a plus!) (There was also a girl in there rockin an afro! ) I think the performance was only supposed to be an hour long but it went longer and I was very glad. After there was a break where the leader of the troupe was giving mini "samurai lessons" to random people in the auidance. This was also very funny!





I'll post the videos I tok in another post, part 2 if you will. I am just glad I was FINALLY able to go to this event and enjoy the weather! I hope to see more fun cultural events as summer kicks into gear!