The annual Cherry Blossom Festival honoring Cupertino’s sister city of Toyokawa, Japan, will be held Saturday & Sunday, April 29 & 30, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Memorial Park, the Quinlan Community Center and the Senior Center.  NCNF has been invited to participate on Saturday, April 29th from 2:20pm to 2:50pm. Please reply to this email to let me know of your interest to attend and I will send the list to Nobida Sensei, who will be the point person corrdinating our participation. The event offers a wide selection of Japanese food and beverages, entertainment, demonstrations, cultural exhibits, art, crafts and clothing for sale. All-day entertainment takes place in the Amphitheatre. The festival benefits the non-profit Cupertino Sister City Committee, which promotes friendship and student exchange programs between the two cities. Local non-profit organizations that support services for disadvantaged youth, sports, music and language programs will have booths which raise funds for their groups. For further information about the Cherry Blossom Festival, call the Cupertino Sister Cities at (408) 252-2303 or visit the website at www.cupertinotoyokawa.org.

Welcome to the 2017 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival®, now celebrating its 50th year, which is one of California’s most prominent celebrations of Asian traditions and biggest on the West coast. Starting in 1968, the festival serves to cultivate the continued alliance between Japan and United States using culture as the bridge. This year’s Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday April 8-9 and April 15-16, 2017. All are welcome to join in the festivities as we celebrate heart Japanese and Japanese American culture in San Francisco’s Japantown! We will be performing on April 8th at 4:45pm-5:15pm on the Peace Plaza Stage. The festival will be held on Post Street between Laguna and Fillmore Streets. There will be food booths, cultural performances, martial arts, live bands, the annual Queen Program, and more. The Grand Parade will be held on Sunday, April 16, beginning at City Hall and concluding in Japantown. For more info about the event: http://sfcherryblossom.org/schedule-of-events/

June 6th is the Santa Cruz Japanese Cultural Fair. The NCNF naginata demonstration is scheduled for 3:30 - 4pm at the dojo. Parking for the demonstration is available behind the dojo if you arrive close to the demo time. We also have a tradition of going to dinner afterwards, so plan accordingly if you have the time. The full Japanese Cultural  Fair runs from 11am to 6pm in the Mission Park Plaza near the dojo. The purpose of the Japanese Cultural Fair is to provide an opportunity for the community to increase it's awareness and understanding of the Japanese community in Santa Cruz County as well as Japanese culture, both traditional and contemporary. We believe that through the arts, craft, and culture of Japan, we can improve mutual understanding among neighbors on the Pacific Rim as well as enrich our community life here in Santa Cruz. For more information, please view their website: http://jcfsantacruz.org/  

NCNF will be participanting again with Clockwork Alchemy! It will be an 1 hour per day seminar where volunteers will help with teaching and safey monitoring. The exact times are not fixed yet, but the event will be Memorial day weekend May 27th-30th. Pre-registration is required and our contact with Clockwork Alchemy is looking to finalize the details. You will also receive passes for Clockwork Alchemy/Fanime. This page will be updated as more information becomes available. This year's convention is dedicated to the many creative endeavors that are part of steampunk. When most people hear the word ‘arts’ they think of painting, music, or dance. But steampunks realize that the arts are much broader than this. We celebrate and express ourselves through making, music, painting, sculpture, fashion, writing, dance, the martial ways, and many other creative channels. All are integral to this culture we call steampunk, and Clockwork Alchemy 2016 will feature guests and programming that celebrate the myriad of arts that make up steampunk's inventive and creative nature. Come join us May 27–30, 2016, at the San Jose DoubleTree Hotel, and be part of The Arts of Steampunk. For more information, please see their website: http://www.clockworkalchemy.com/

All, The Northern California Naginata Federation will hold its 2016 NCNF Spring Seminar and Tanaka Sensei Memorial Embu on May 14 and May 15 at San Jose State University in SPX-178 (formerly called “the fencing room,” or SPX-89). The event restarts a long tradition begun under the late Miyako Tanaka Price of providing broad, yet deep training for locals interested in furthering or learning about the art of Naginata. The seminar portion of the event will span both Saturday and Sunday and will cover material from absolute fundamentals to sandan-level kata and bogu. It will also include a portion focusing on judging and refereeing for yudansha participants holding sandan or higher and a portion on ring-management for participants with lower ranks and grades. The seminar will culminate in a short mock tournament, where all participants get to put into practice everything they learned during the weekend. This year’s event will close with a short Tanaka Sensei Memorial Embu, in which interested participants will provide budo performances in her honor. Tanaka sensei was a driving force in spreading Naginata in Northern California and the world. All Naginata practitioners in this area are part of her legacy, so they are invited to participate. Price participating in the two-day event is a flat $30 fee.   The agenda is as follows (subject to change):   SATURDAY   LEVEL TIME DESCRIPTION NOTES All 0900~1000 Registration/Setup   All 1000~1015 Opening Ceremony   All 1015~1030 Warmups/Zentai   All 1030~1115 Kihon Waza/Uchikaeshi   BEG 1115~1230 Shikake-Oji 1~5 Or whatever they can do/learn INT/ADV 1115~1230 Shikake-Oji 1~8   Sandan+ 1115-1230 Zen Nihon Kata Members in this group will rotate out to help the beginner group ALL 1230-1400 LUNCH   ALL 1400-1430 Guided practice This is somewhat of a free practice for people to reinforce through repetition the movements and concepts they learned in the first half of the day. Senior participants can provide guidance to students and answer any questions. ALL 1430~1500 Uchikaeshi/Kakari Geiko In bogu. BEG 1500~1645 More kihon waza, shikake oji, uchikaeshi Guide will come from Intermediate and Advanced participants INT/ADV 1500-1545 Bogu drills/ring strategy Members of this group will rotate out to help the beginner group INT/ADV 1545-1645 Jigeiko (Also ishujiai if any kenshi come) ALL 1645-1700 Shikake-Oji   ALL 1700~1715 Closing Ceremony Day 1   ALL 1715~1745 Free Practice/Cleanup     SUNDAY   LEVEL TIME DESCRIPTION NOTES All 0900~1000 Setup   ALL 1000~1015 Warm-ups and Zentai   ALL 1015~1100 Kihon waza and Uchikaeshi No bogu BEG/INT/ADV 1100~1145 Shikake-Oji With introduction on how to enter and leave the floor in tournament and test situation SANDAN+ 1100~1230 Refereeing   BEG/INT/ADV 1145~1230 Ring Management   ALL 1230~1400 LUNCH   BEG/INT/ADV 1400~1500 Mock Tournament (kata) Going through the motions, ALL SANDAN+ 1400~1500 Mock Tournament (shiai) Going through the motions, ALL ALL 1500~1615 Jigeijko Including ishujiai if any kenshi present ALL 1630~1700 Enbu   ALL 1700~1715 Closing Ceremony   ALL 1715~1745 Free Practice/Cleanup     Please contact Martin Nobida at nobida@yahoo.com to let him know of your intent to participate.   Sincerely, Martin

The annual Cherry Blossom Festival honoring Cupertino’s sister city of Toyokawa, Japan, will be held Saturday & Sunday, April 23 & 24, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Memorial Park at Stevens Creek Blvd and Mary Ave in Cupertino. NCNF will have our annual demonstration during this event on Saturday April 23rd at 2:20pm lasting 30 minutes. Registration is not required but it would help us estimate how many participants we can expect to help demo.  The event offers a wide selection of Japanese food and beverages, entertainment, demonstrations, cultural exhibits, art, crafts and clothing for sale. All-day entertainment takes place in the Amphitheatre. The festival benefits the non-profit Cupertino Sister City Committee, which promotes friendship and student exchange programs between the two cities. Local non-profit organizations that support services for disadvantaged youth, sports, music and language programs will have booths which raise funds for their groups.  For more information, please check their website: http://www.cupertinotoyokawa.org/

The 2016 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival® will celebrate its 49th year, is one of California’s most prominent celebrations of Asian traditions. Each year, over 200,000 people attend this dazzling display showcasing the color and grace of the Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese American Community. Please join us and become a sponsor of this popular Japanese American community event. The event is free and open to the public. Vendors will be charging for their food goods and some retail products; and some specialized events will require a fee. The 2016 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival® will be held on Saturday and Sunday April 9-10 and April 16-17, 2016. All are welcome to join in the festivities as we celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture in San Francisco’s Japantown! The festival will be held on Post Street between Laguna and Fillmore Streets. There will be food booths, cultural performances, martial arts, live bands, the annual Queen Program, and more. The Grand Parade will be held on Sunday, April 17, beginning at City Hall and concluding in Japantown. For more information, please check their website: http://sfcherryblossom.org/?p=29