Yokoso Japan!

Also featured were various dancers and troops, arts and crafts, and numerous travel stalls.

Unfortunately the Japanese festival was affected by a few things which meant that the first part of the day really wasn't a good promotion of Japanese language and culture.

Firstly, it was barely advertised. Not many magazines carried information about it. Was this a last minute thing?

Secondly, the advertisements that did exist, varied the start times as either 10am, 3pm or 4pm. It actually started at 10am with some people setting up food stalls. Most food stalls opened at around 12pm.

A lot of the travel stalls didn't start to open until 2pm.

During the day there were occasional practice performances in amongst a couple of real children's performances but there was no programme guide available at the time to tell anyone what was happening.

At 3pm most stalls had opened and so many travel brochures about Japan could be collected.

At about 4pm the performances officially began. But by this time a lot of people had eaten, collected their brochures, and due to the inclement weather and an expected storm, had left.

But if I knew what was going to happen, and if I'd had plenty of advance notice, I would have been able to make a day of it!

The dancers looked like they'd put in a lot of preparation and effort, the Japanese who had painted themselves in traditional makeup and dressed up in Kimonos were beautiful and the stalls that were available had a lot of interesting food.

There were also a lot of Japanese residents who took the opportunity to come along in their kimonos too, which made the place look lively and colourful.

If you wanted food the best place to go was the Fuji Japanese Bakery. The Octopus Balls were excellent and waiting for us to buy.

At other stalls, the food had to be cooked when you asked for it. This caused a lot of less patient people to give up and get their food from Fuji! Okonomiyaki had to be ordered and you had to wait while they cooked it. Another stall had prawn balls. Order, pay, wait until they're cooked and give your ticket to collect them. About 20 minutes!

The best stall though wasn't food, it was arts and crafts direct from Yamaga. Selling unique Yamaga artistic creations from Kumamoto this was the most crowded and popular tent in the area. Hand painted Japanese fans, origami and other types of paper art, and more. I hope they sold a lot.

Everyone has heard of Kintetsu and they, of course, had their stall there too, offering a great deal for trips to Tokyo from AU$1248 (Feb-Mar '06) If you want to know more or you're planning a trip to Tokyo, call Vincent at Kintetsu!

But if it is skiiing that you want then the Niseko resort magazine contains everything you need to know about the powder in Hokkaido. I thought the snow in Hokkaido was all year round but the gentleman assured me there isn't anything there during August/September.

Of the many brochures and magazines I picked up I was quite surprised to get hold of a copy of 'att.japan' - the latest issue direct from Tokyo. It is a magazine written in English and Chinese for tourists in Japan and contains a lot of useful information. The November / December issue has a fascinating feature on Sendai and Yamagata. Looks like I'll have to find a way to subscribe!

So, apart from the poor marketing and the bad weather, I think the event was a success. And I certainly got a lot of information out of it.

I look forward to the next one!

Join the  Sydney Japanese Language Exchange Group The online discussion group is free to join and gives you a free monthly newsletter updating you on what is happening at the next pub night, whether there are any other special events in Sydney, and helps you to chat with other members. Simply enter your email address to join.

Subscribe to the Sydney Japanese Language Exchange Group Email:  Browse Archives at groups.google.com.au