Neighbors Abroad of Palo Alto will be putting on the Tsuchiura – Japan　Festival to celebrate Palo Alto’s Sister City relationship　with Tsuchiura, Japan.
Palo Alto and Tsuchiura City officially entered into a sister city relationship in March 2009. However, Palo Alto’s relationship with that part of Japan started as early as 1993 when local parents started a student exchange program that has seen over 242 Japanese students and chaperones visit Palo Alto and over 201 Palo Alto residents visit Japan.
Besides celebrating Palo Alto’s Sister City relationship with Tsuchiura in Japan, our Festival aims to share Japanese culture with our visitors. The city of Tsuchiura will be sending a team of Kappore dancers and a Zen Master as the core of this exchange. To this we plan on adding a Taiko drum team, tea ceremonies, martial art ceremonies, and a mini-anime festival.
The festival will be held at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Community Center on October 10, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm.
More information, Tea Ceremony and Meditation Session sign-ups, and Anime and Cosplay Contest entry forms can be found at www.neighborsabroad.org/JapanFestival/.