The 24th Abiko International Festival 2015

Date: Sunday, November 29, 2015

Venue: Hall, gallery and salon of Abiko Civic Plaza (Abiko Shopping Center)

　The 24th AIRA festival was specially marked by the 45th anniversary of Abiko since its organization as a city.

　The main theme of this year’s festival was titled “Tiny Exchanges Make Deeper Understanding”, and the festival was aimed to promote mutual understanding of all people, in and out of Abiko, through interactive exchange on culture and customs.

 

(Rehearsal and preparations)

　Prior to the opening, a dance group “Kappa Dance Kids” rehearsed on the stage. Around sixty kids danced powerfully to the music, which was watched by people already full in the hall before the show time.

　Meanwhile in contrast to the liveliness in the hall and the gallery, tea ceremony and kimono dressing started quietly in the next rooms.

(Salon)

1. Kimono Dressing Experience

　Ms. Keiko Taguchi, kimono dressing teacher, and her assistants helped foreigners dressing up in kimonos. Recently the number of men who want to experience putting-on kimono has been increasing. After getting dressed up, they took pictures in front of flowers beautifully arranged by Ms. Shunko Iwai, and later some of them clad in kimonos joined singing a song on the stage.

　Ms. Majessa Barksdale also got dressed in kimono and emceed for hours.

　When you put on a kimono, you dramatically look gorgeous if you choose the most fitted one with proper color and design patterns and sash. Ms. Iwai and her assistants carefully chose kimonos for each of the foreigners, and all of them looked bright and great! Looking at them we knew the good taste and proper choice of kimonos by the teacher and her assistants.

2. Tea ceremony

　A lot of people were waiting for the tea ceremony to start. It was hosted by Ms. Soshin Nakano, a teacher of Ura-Senke school, and her pupils.

　In tea ceremony Japanese sweets that give you a sense of the season are served. Every guest enjoyed tea and a sweet in the shape of camellia in the quiet atmosphere. There were two strips of paper hung on the wall with words “菊松多寿色”(kiku sho jushoku ooshi), meaning that chrysanthemum and pine have many lucky colors, and the second one,”和敬静寂”(wa kei seijaku), meaning peace, respect and serenity. The guests listened to Ms. Nakano’s explanation on these ideas, and experienced the spirit of Japanese traditional tea ceremony.　

(Gallery)

　From the opening till late afternoon the gallery was thronged by many visitors. In the gallery there were “Ahoudori (Albatross) Manju” Shop, Kids’ Corner and eight display-and-sales booths. Ahoudori manju is read and white colored sweets with an albatross brand atop, which was designed by AIRA. This Japanese confectionary has been sold in the festival to support the “Relocation of Albatrosses to Ogasawara Island Chain” project, which is being carried out with the leadership of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko. AIRA ordered Ahoudori Manjus from the confectioner “Fukuichi” in Abiko and sold them to donate the proceeds to the institute.

　At the gallery entrance, a stuffed baby albatross, about 4kgs, was displayed, which children touched and hugged it. A Chiba University student joined AIRA staff at the manju shop. Finally the all of the 120 sweets were sold out!

　At the Kids’ Corner, five students from Kawamura Gakuen Moman’s University played with kids. As the corner was so popular among kids all day long that students couldn’t even have time to take a break.

　There were eight booths, i.e. Columbia, Germany, S. Korea, USA, SEA groups; Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, and AIRA Shop including Nepal. Those booths were run by students at AIRA language classes and exchange students at Chuo Gakuin University. In each booth, foods, special products and folk-crafts from various countries were sold. In some booths tea was served and regional costumes were displayed at others. Various languages were heard among visitors and shop attendants in the gallery.

(Kamishibai -Picture-Story Show)

　The show started in the hall at 12:15. Two stories, “The White Rabbit in Inaba” and “The Mixed-up Chameleon” were read aloud by Ms. Elena Shinozuka from Russia. She is an excellent performer and active in various fields. One of them is a recital of poems of Pushkin, Russian poet.

　When she performed “The White Rabbit in Inaba”, she sometimes leaned over to talk to kids sitting on tatami and asked them questions. There were some adults viewers among them.

　When she performed “The Mixed-up Chameleon”, she showed her great power of expression saying some lines like ”Oh, I want to go back to what I used to look!” with expressive gestures.

(Hall)

　The stage show started in the hall at 13:00, which was emceed by Mr. M. Hayasaka, manager of AIRA international exchange group, and Ms. M. Barksdale from America.

　Following the speech by Mr. T. Sugano, president of AIRA, Mr. J. Hoshino, Mayor of Abiko, said in his speech that the city was promoting peace education and Sadako’s paper cranes, made by a late girl died of the atomic bombing sequela, was donated to Abiko city. He closed his speech by saying, “In this festival I hope people from other countries will get to know the good points of Japan, and international friendship and communication will be nurtured.”

　After the mayor’s speech other guests also gave some words, then the show time started.

1. Performance of Japanese language class students

　The Saturday class students sang a song, “The March of 365 Steps”, and the Tuesday class students gave a quiz show. They showed national flags and the audience answered the name of country of each flag. The quiz seemed difficult, but one young student gave correct answers to the all questions.

2. Hip-Hop Dance by Kappa Dance Kids, AKD48

　They perform in the Abiko Kappa Festival every year. The kids, divided into groups, danced powerfully not only on the stage but also near the stage and in the aisles among audience seats. “Abika-chan”, the mascot of Kappa Festival made a special appearance and danced hip-pot together with the kids to “Kappa Ondo”, a bon-dance song of Abiko arranged in hip-hop style. The audience packed the hall were excited and gave them big applause.

3. Songs by Professional Artists, Tamami and Hiromi

　Ms. Tamami Matsumoto is an actress and singer, who is active in TV, movies, stages and CMs. Ms. Hiromi Tayama is a jazz-vocalist and pianist. She gives concerts by singing to her own piano accompaniment.

　The two made an amazing combination and fascinated the audience with their songs and piano playing. The songs were “Stardust”, “New York, New York”, “Memory” from the musical “Cats”,”Kuchibiru yo Atsuku Kimi o Katare”(Lips, Talk Ardently), a Japanese pop song in 1980 and “Himawari no Yakusoku”(The Promise of Sunflowers) from the animation movie “Doraemon”, in which Tamami played as a voice actor. She sang without a microphone and her powerful voice echoed in the hall. All the audience were attracted by her and Hiromi’s professional performances.

4. Belly Dance by Nikera Belly Dance Group

　Nikera Belly Dance is a group who regularly practice in Abiko. Belly dance has several kinds of styles. On the stage they performed three kinds of dances to the up-tempo rhythm in beautiful costumes. The seven dancers enchanted the audience with their pretty, beautiful and mysterious dance.

5. Kokarina Performance by Kokarina Circle Abiko

>　When you hear the sound of kokarina, the soft sound of wood is so gentle that you will feel a sort of nostalgic feeling. “Takeda no Komoriuta”(Lullaby of Takeda), “Woodpecker Polka” and other songs were played. The sound of kokarina differs depending on what kind of wood is used, e.g. cherry, pine, cedar or maple. Several kinds of kokarina made a good harmony and turned the hall into a forest.

6. Romanian Dance by Ms. Korneria Kasahara

　Ms. Korneria Kasahara danced in a brilliant Romanian costume. When she performed a dance of Romanian forest people, some people in the hall, adults, kids, staff members, volunteer students joined her and danced together in a circle. They all looked very happy dancing hand in hand with each other on the stage.

7. Performances by AIRA language class students

1) Chines class students sang 蘇州夜曲, A Nocturne of Sozhou, and read a Chinese poem 楓橋夜泊, Staying Overnight at Maple Bridge.

2) Korean class students sang　九九の歌, The song of multiplication table of Koran calculation, and “My Melody” , an inserted-song in the TV series “Winter Sonata”.

3) English class students distributed a lyric card of “Oh My Darling Clementine” to the audience and sang together the song.

4) .French class students sang “L’ame des poetes” (Soul of Poets).

(Lottery Drawing)

　A lottery drawing was held after a closing speech by Mr. Murakoshi, chief of AIRA festival executive committee, who thanked all the people including visitors, audience and staff.

　There were 20 prizes; 2 first prizes, 2 second prizes, 6 third prizes and 10 fourth prizes. Various prize gifts were prepared. In addition to daily commodities, AIRA supporting member organizations offered us lots of gifts for the lottery. Donated items were, NEC towels with a NEC Green Rockets logos and rugby items; Chuo Gakuin University’s pretty straps and goods which are used for cheering marathon runners in Ekiden Marathon Race; and Yamashina Institute for Ornithology presented books titled “I’ll be a parent of albatross project, a photo diary of relocation of baby albatrosses. Breads from the French booth, German goumi candies and other foods in the gallery were also provided as prizes.

　Majessa and Mr. J. Roth drew lots from the lottery box while the audience were watching. There rose shouts of joy and disappointment each time a lot was drawn. After all the lots were drawn the audience played the game of scissors-rock-paper with Majessa, and winners got prizes. The joyful and happy festival ended successfully in the friendly atmosphere.

(No.15-16 Translated by Ch. Yamaguchi)