Japanese American Portland: Events

JANUARY

Mochitsuki
This annual Japanese New Year celebration features the ceremonial pounding of steamed rice into mochi, a traditional snack that symbolizes starting the new year with abundance. The festival also includes Japanese food, activities, performances and a cultural fair.

O-Shogatsu
The Portland Japanese Garden hosts this Japanese New Year celebration, featuring traditional activities for children, a kakizome calligraphy demonstration and more.

FEBRUARY

Day of Remembrance
Oregon Nikkei commemorates the incarceration of more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Hina Matsuri
The Japanese Festival of Dolls, Feb. 25 through March 3, 2012, features a display of hina ningyo dolls (elaborately costumed figures depicting the imperial family and its courtiers) as well as an opportunity to dress girls in cotton yukata for photographs in front of the dolls.

MARCH

Ohara Ikebana Exhibit
The Portland Chapter of the Ohara School of Ikebana is noted for developing the moribana style, which breaks with the more formal vertical style of the past to create horizontal "landscape" arrangements.

APRIL

Portland Japanese Garden Plant Sale
A wide selection of Asian plants, including peonies, camellias, bamboo, bonsai, Japanese maples, azaleas and rhododendrons, are available for sale.

MAY

Kodomo no Hi
The Children's Day festival at the Portland Japanese Garden activities and entertainment, including the raising of the koi nobori (carp banner), taiko drumming, crafts and more.

JUNE

O.N.E. Annual Banquet
The annual fundraising banquet of the Oregon Nikkei Endowment (O.N.E.) features an awards presentation, entertainment, keynote address, silent auction and more.

JULY

Tanabata
Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, is a time when wishes written on strips of paper are hung on trees in hopes they will come true. The popular summer festival has roots in an old fable of two lovers allowed to meet only once per year, and includes storytelling, origami and traditional music.

AUGUST

Obon Festival
ObonFest, a traditional festival honoring ancestors, features Obon Odori dancing, taiko performances, martial arts demonstrations, temple talks, Asian crafts, kids' activities and food. Free practice sessions for odori folk dancing at ObonFest are held in late July and early August.

SEPTEMBER

Festival Japan
This annual festival, held at Uwajimaya grocery store in Beaverton, features performances, martial arts, Japanese children's games, a silent auction, eating contests and more.

OCTOBER

Kiku Matsuri
This flower-viewing festival at the Portland Japanese Garden highlights the chrysanthemum, Japan's imperial flower.

DECEMBER

Origami Workshop
Community volunteers demonstrate how to fold origami creations such as cranes at the Consulate-General of Japan in Portland's popular family-friendly event, which is free and open to the public.