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Japan’s food and culture in full display at annual festival
Japanese and non-Japanese alike, some in colorful kimonos, celebrated the Autumn Festival with the Japanese Society of the Northern Marianas last Saturday.
The Sugar King Park in Garapan was filled with families and friends to celebrate the event, dubbed the Japanese Society Charity Autumn Festival.
The Japanese Society of the NMI’S annual Autumn Festival held at the Sugar King Park in Garapan on Saturday draws a sizeable crowd. The most popular booths at the festival were the food. (Ferdie de la Torre)
“That is to pray for the island’s safety and the people that are living here,” society vice chair Hiroko Tenorio.
Tenorio said in Japan, the ceremonies are held in partnership with shrines.
After the ceremony, there was a scramble to take home charms that had been prayed over.
The Japanese Society hosts this annual event as part of its cultural exchange activity in the CNMI.
“It is important for the Japanese people that are living here. At the same time, we want to show our culture to the local people here. We want them to experience what we have,” Tenorio said.
“The Autumn Festival is an important event for the Japanese, hundreds and hundreds of years old. This is the time when the rice comes out in the rice fields,” she added.
Among those present at the festival were Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Reps. Joseph Lee Pan Guerrero and Ed Villagomez, and members of the Japanese Consulate, as well as Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio.
The three-hour festival was packed with activities. At the bazaar, cheap items including clothes, shoes, household items, and books were for sale for pennies and quarters.
Booths with various games such as super ball, water balloon fishing, and shooting were also set up. Winners can take home toys straight from Japan or even dried salmon and luxury items from DFS Galleria such as bags and a GoPro camera.
Contests were also held for the crowd.
To further showcase the Japanese culture, a performance showing the styles of swinging a sword was also staged.
The highlight of the event was the Japanese food. Restaurants such as Himawari, Kinpachi and Furusato each had their own booths.
Among the most lined up for was sauce-senbei, which are rice crackers topped with special sauce. Tako-yaki and old time favorites such as yaki-tori, kara-age, yaki-meshi, shaved ice, curry rice, beef bowl, ramen, and oden were also on sale.
