San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival 2011 - Sakura Matsuri

Most crowded time of the year for Japantown. Any normal day and it's almost like a ghost town. While many people present may be good for the businesses here, it can get a bit inconvenient when walking at snail pace through large crowds.

On Saturday I had to attend a Japanese cultural event for extra credit for my Second Semester Japanese Class, specifically the Karuta Hyakunin Isshu card games.

I didn't know anything about it prior to attending the Karuta Hyakunin Isshu card games, so I was a bit nervous when it was time for guests to try it for themselves, even more so was that all the instructions, on the paper and spoken, was in Japanese. Of course I can understand somewhat what was being said, but for the main part I was confused about the whole objective of the game. While the game was going on the only thing I understood was that during the speaking of the poem, you have to listen carefully for the name of one of the cards. When you do so, you are to hit the card off the playing area before your opponent does. My opponent was a nice Japanese lady was seemed to be new to it as well, she mainly spoke Japanese and spoke to me in English at certain times. I was able to understand her for the most part and even made a bit of conversation at the end of the game which I think is some progress in my Japanese studies.

My description of the game is just my experience with it and what I thought it was about initially before reading any info about it. If you want to know more about it, check out Wikipedia for real info about it. Karuta

Here are what the cards look like from the Karuta Hyakunin Isshu card games. As long as you can read/understand Hiragana, you can play.

Something new this year at the Sakura Matsuri. I know I've seen this before in Japanese festivals in photos before, but am not entirely sure what it is. If you know what the meaning is behind these, please comment about it.

Food stalls here always have long lines. I'm not one to wait in long lines for food so I just snapped up some photos as I passed by.

There was some nice cars on exhibit, to help out with bringing in money for the relief effort. I wish there were some itasha present but there was none, just normal cool Japanese cars you would probably see from the Fast and Furious series.

"Pray for Japan"

Plenty of people around were around checking out the cars, I heard some of them saying that they would want one like these. Who wouldn't want a fast car?

Iconic Hello Kitty, this time big enough for the kids to fit into and jump around in.

Would this count as itasha? Smart car is cute already, Hello Kitty made it stand out from the rest of the smart cars out there.

Sake shrine. Another Japanese cultural thing I don't know too much about. If you know about what it is about, share your knowledge with a comment.

A new Daiso Japan store opened in Japantown, right under Ichiban Kan. Both stores are almost the same, with similar items too, but Daiso is bigger. I wonder how the competition will be between the two stores.

Every time I checked out Daiso it was packed with people, I don't know if it was because it was during the Sakura Matsuri, the grand opening of the store, or because most items was only $1.50. If I had known that this store was opening here earlier I would of applied for a job here. I already applied for a job at Kinokuniya Stationary at Japantown, but no response so I'm assuming I didn't get the job.

Walking around I found a table selling some Bonsai plants. Some of them were expensive, but they are nice to put in your office or room I guess.

I'm wondering, do these bonsai plants need a lot of maintenance?

As I'm currently studying Japanese, I've been making my own flash cards for memorizing Kanji. My system for studying it works pretty well but due to me only looking at the cards the day before a Kanji quiz, I end up forgetting some. If you're studying Kanji, what do you do to help you remember it? I usually associate the visible parts of the Kanji with real life objects, stories, or other kana to help myself remember. I don't feel like buying Kanji books, mostly because I'm a bit stingy on money.

The only good cosplayer I saw on Saturday April 16. I recognized her cosplay from the Vocaloid song Matryoshka. I don't like the song too much, but here is the song if you want to check it out:

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Photos from here on are from Sunday April 17, starting from San Francisco Civic Center, where the parade starts and the cosplayers gather.

This is the second year I'm attending the cosplay gathering at San Francisco's Civic Center. I noticed there wasn't as much as last years, but I could be wrong.

A lovely Princess Peach, one of the top winners of the cosplay contest.

Don't know what their cosplay is, but nice looking none the less.

Samari?

I'm assuming this is Halo here.

While I heard of the Panty and Stocking series, I haven't watched the anime, but I'm thinking this is a Panty robot? Don't know if it's based on anything on the anime because I haven't watched it (and I don't really plan to). This is another one of the top winners of the cosplay contest.

Black Rock Shooter, I've seen better though.

I immediately recognized her as the main character of the movie Sucker Punch. Haven't seen the movie, only the preview.

This Link cosplay won 1st place in the cosplay contest.

It was mostly cloudy around the city in the morning, but the fog usually breaks up starting around noon in downtown. The weather was a lot better than last year's Sakura Matsuri, which was really hot.

Around the time the parade was to begin, cosplayers got into position to be a part of the parade.

Lining up and getting ready the march all the way to Japantown, which is about 7-10 blocks away I think.

Other floats getting ready, here we have the contestants of the Sakura Matsuri pageant.

Sanrio was a big part of the whole festival, judging by the cars and giant Hello Kitty jumper. How long has Hello Kitty been around?

Taiko drums signal the start of the parade.

I wasn't planning on joining the parade, I kind of did so on impulse. Also more so because people were telling me to go. I wasn't disappointed.

I almost missed being in the parade because I had to wait for my late friend. Once he arrived we ran to catch up.

I love how most of the cosplayers are looking at the camera.

These two guys were in charge of the cosplay masquerade. I know both of them, the guy on the left has been in charge of the Sakura Matsuri cosplay event since the start in 1999 (I think that's when it started). He's also an expert on anime conventions, he does panels on them at smaller cons and has been to most cons I think all over California. A nice guy who has been giving me advice about cons, which is perfect for a anime con newbie like me.

Us arriving at Japantown. Tons of people line up on the sides to watch the festivities.

Being part of the parade means that you aren't stuck taking pictures behind someone's back.

Wave to the cameras folks!

Cosplay masquerade arrives at the center of Japantown.

This is the float that holds the cosplay contest winners.

Snapshot from within the cosplay masquerade crowd.

Beautiful Sakura Matsuri Queens. I didn't attend the first day of the festival when they were doing the pageant.

A bit more close up of the float of the winners of the cosplay contest.

Didn't eat anything all day until after the parade. Just like last year I had some of my favorite Spam Musubi and Hawaiian Sun Guava.

If you're wondering why there is a sword here, then here is the reason. First off I did not buy this at the sword store at Japantown, rather I bought it at AOD in February for a future cosplay. That future cosplay was debuted here at the Sakura Matsuri, but as a first time cosplayer it didn't go well so I had to take it off before leaving the Civic Center. I'll talk more about this topic in the conclusion of this post.

What's a Sakura Matsuri without Sakura?

The view from where I decided to rest and eat and enjoy the Cherry Blossoms and shade they provide.

What was different this year than the other years of Sakura Matsuris was of course the Sendai Earthquake which has had a impact all around the world. While walking around, most of the stores had fliers and posters on their windows that were about helping Japan by sending part of their profit to Japan to support relief efforts there. Under the Sakura, people were writing messages on a big piece of cloth that I'm assuming is going to be sent to Japan along with other relief aid.

This is really the only way we can help being so far away from Japan. I know that Japan will rise again, higher than it was before, ready for the future. I pray for the recovery of Japan, and hope that others will support Japan not only by sending money, but actually by going to Japan once most of the problems that the earthquakes caused have cleared. Tourism is part of their economy, so we can support them by visiting the land of the rising sun.

Many people find their place so that they can watch the anime talent show.

Backstage is ready to go.

First off we have the 4th place winners, ten in all.

Our third place winners, five of them...or six I guess.

Second place winners.

This Link has entered the contest before, but this is the first time she was first place. Judges liked the detail put into the cosplay, got to love that chain mail armor.

K-On! cosplay dance. Probably a bit weird for normal people to watch. They did not dance to a K-On! song.

I forget the song that these cosplayers were doing the dance to.

A performance by Yukie Dong, a rising star.

Was surprised that there was a Homura cosplayer. She did a dance to Connect which is the opening song to Madoka Magica of the series that her character is in.

Homura is a character from Purella Magi Madoka Magica if you don't know. Great anime, not so average magical girl series, check it out if you haven't done so yet.

A bit more cosplay photos, here we have a Reimu cosplayer, Touhou is where his character is from. Reimu is originally a girl character, but I admit he does a great job as Reimu. He also did the panels at AOD about Touhou and Vocaloid.

Got to meet up with the Homura cosplay. Seeing how the series is relatively new, I wonder how she got her cosplay outfit. Did she make it or order it? Looks ordered though. Well I don't know too much about cosplay yet so don't expect me to not be amazed that there is cosplay for a relatively new series.

Yukie Dong, she had a maid cafe fundraiser a couple of weeks ago for Japan relief.

Two cosplayes, only recognize the miko cosplay which is basic but nice.

Close up of notes that are clipped to the ropes. Is this like when you tie those bad fortunes you get from shrines to those fences to get rid of them? That's the only thing that comes to mind. I think these notes have "pray for Japan" messages though so it wouldn't make sense if it was what I was thinking it was.

And finally I end with a photo of the Cherry Blossoms with the Peace Padoga.

This post took FOREVER to do. Here are my reasons:
1) I got lazy.
2) Choosing the best photos took a while because my computer likes to bug up on me.
3) Slow internet for uploading photos.
4) Putting the photos in order, the ordering system is so slow.
5) Typing up descriptions for each photo, making sure I don't forget details.

Anyways this year's Sakura Matsuri was great as usual, not as much as last year though. I felt there was a lot more people around due to people supporting Japan, so it was hard moving around at times. There wasn't too much cosplay like last year either.

The main thing that brought down the Sakura Matsuri for me was my failed attempt at my first cosplay. I arrived at the Civic Center before 11:30am. I didn't come in my cosplay because I didn't want to get arrested on the bus for being all dressed in black with a ski mask and sword. Can you guess what I'm cosplaying as? If you said ninja, then you are correct. To be more specific, I'm cosplaying more as a traditional Japanese ninja. If your imagination only brings up Naruto, then check this out for a better visualization of my cosplay: How to Become a Ninja - By Danny Choo.

As a first time cosplayer, I decided it was a perfect chance to gain some experience as a cosplayer at the Sakura Matsuri. I learned some valuable lessons that I'll need to apply to my next event to make my cosplay happen with success:

1) Have someone help you out with your cosplay - I found tying the part for mask by myself hard because I couldn't tie it right and it became loose and my mask/hood kept shifting around. The hood should be always secure down so that it's straight all the time with my face. Also pinning parts of my jacket proved to be hard by myself. There was some people I knew around to help, but it's better to be within a cosplay group who can always be willing to help you with fixing your cosplay.

2) Know how to pose for the camera - I've done posing at home, but never outside. I haven't practiced too much with my cosplay yet, mostly because I just got it less than a week before the festival. This I'll work on as my next event comes in May.

3) This is not exactly a lesson, but something I really need to do to really bring my cosplay to completion, litterally - Get my cosplay to look just like the real traditional Japanese Ninjas - I know what's left for me to do to complete my cosplay. I still need tabi socks/shoes, a short knife as prop, and a better way to carry my sword on my back. I plan to also have a sash like belt to cover my mid section to cover some of the tie ups.

Like I said before, being a cosplayer is a new experience for me. I decided to start doing cosplaying as a way to have more fun at anime conventions rather than me just being a normal person running around taking pictures. I choose to become a ninja because it suits my personally. I'm agile, like to sneak around, and also a bit shy. Also, I noticed that i don't see any person donning a traditional Japanese ninja costume at the events I've been to so far. That's all I can say about cosplay for now. If any of you plan to go to Fanime next month, look for a dark traditional Japanese looking ninja, like in the pictures from Danny Choo's post, link is above.

Hope you guys enjoyed my photos and coverage of this year's Sakura Matsuri.