Clearwater’s Japanese Culture
and Lantern Festival

 By Esther Searfoss (esther@tokyomokyo.com)
Community Liaison for Tokyo Mokyo, LLC
J.Club Member

 Photo by Travis Kirk, Esther Searfoss, Mitsuo Ogishima

April 25, 2009

Clearwater, Florida has the second longest sister city relationship with a Japanese city in the state. According to the Consulate- General of Japan in Miami’s website, Clearwater and Nagano, Japan have been sisters since Mar. 14, 1959. This relationship is only surpassed by Miami Beach, which formed its bond with Fujisawa nine days earlier. Nagano is a city of well over 350,000 residents and is located near the geographical center of Japan, just south of the northern coast in central Honshū. It is most famous for Zenkō-ji, a 7th century Buddhist temple. The temple is built on a hilltop within the city and contains a hidden Buddha statue that is never seen by the public, although a replica is show every six or seven years. (Information on Nagano accessed from Wikipedia on 5/13/09).

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their sister city status, the City of Clearwater organized a Japanese Culture and Lantern Festival on April 25, 2009, scheduled to coincide closely with the annual lantern festival in Nagano. Nagano sent to Clearwater for this event four large wooden lanterns of the kind that were
used to light the streets of their city leading up to Zenkō-ji temple.
The silhouette images illuminated in these lanterns were designed by
Clearwater residents and students.

Clearwater’s Lantern Festival was held downtown in Station Square Park and on Omotesando Street, which was closed for the afternoon event. The demonstrations and music started at 4 p.m. and culminated with a procession and lantern lighting ceremony at 8:30. The public was invited to join the city-block-long procession and were given commemorative paper lanterns lit by multicolored lights. His Honor Hiroshi Yamaguchi, the Japanese Consul General, was part of the lantern lighting ceremony. Mr. Yamaguchi also participated in a tea ceremony performed
by Kaleisia Tea Lounge (thetealounge.com) of Tampa earlier in the day.
The mayor of Clearwater and the Consul General shared the honor of
lighting the lanterns from Nagano.

The day’s musical entertainment consisted of taiko performances by Matsuriza (matsuriza.com) of Orlando and Tampa Taiko (tampataiko.com), a koto mini-concert by Yoshiko Carlton (yoshikocarlton.com), and traditional signing and dance in Geisha attire by Anna Rosato (ikimaru.com). There were also martial arts demonstrations by Gulf Coast Kendo (gulfcoastkendo.com) and Yagyu, a style of Bujutsu using sword and staff, by Alex Perna. Japanese arts were represented by Hukyu Bonsai Society of Tampa (hukyubonsai.com) and Suncoast Bonsai Society in St. Petersburg (suncoastbonsaisociety. com), Sumi-e ink painting by Robbie Miles, Calligraphy by Professor Yang Chan and Ping Chen, Kimono by Ana’s Ikimaru,
an art installation by Yoko Nogami (yokonogami.com), Origami by the Florida
Origami Society, and Ikebana and information on Japanese language classes by Tokyo Mokyo (tokyomokyo.com). On sale at the festival were Kimono-related merchandise, illuminated paper lanterns, and Japanese snack food and drinks.

Attendance at Clearwater’s lantern festival was spectacular. People were dressed in kimono, yukata, and fun Harajuku fashions. Everyone was having a wonderful time in the warm and very breezy weather. Margo Walbolt, Cultural Affairs Manager from the City of Clearwater, who put together this amazing event, indicated that the high turnout is a true testament to our area’s keen interest in Japanese culture.
Here are a few comments from festival attendees:

“It was WONDERFUL!! We got to meet many new people
and we want to go to more events like this!”
--David from St. Petersburg

“Great crowd. We had a great time playing!
Thanks!!!” www.myspace.com/tampataiko
--Ron of Tampa Taiko from Clearwater

“I came in a group of about 28 people and we all had a great time.
I hope we don’t have to wait another 50 years for the next festival!”
--Stephanie of Wesley Chapel

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