What's to See and Do
 ("IMPORTANT NOTE: The following information is about the 2011 festival. Information about the 2012 festival will be uploaded no later than March 1, 2012.)

The Sakura Matsuri - Japanese Street Festival is America’s largest one-day exhibition of Japanese culture. No matter what, if it’s Japanese, it’s at the Sakura Matsuri.

Now in its 51st year, Sakura Matsuri stretches for six square blocks through downtown DC. It takes place on Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, right after the Parade of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. There is a small admissions charge of $5, which helps to offset the Festival’s expenses. Children 12 and under are free. The Japan-America Society will donate part of this year’s ticket income to the earthquake and tsunami relief effort in Japan. For more information on our Japan relief and recovery efforts, click here.

Sponsored by the Japan-America Society of Washington DC, Sakura Matsuri is centered at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, with easy access from the Metro Federal Triangle and Metro Center stations.

“Last year was our 50th Sakura Matsuri,” said Ambassador John R. Malott, President of the Japan-America Society of Washington DC, “and we drew over 150,000 visitors.  As we look to the future, we are determined to take the Festival to a new level and make it not just the biggest, but also the very best Japanese festival anywhere.”

Sakura Matsuri has over 20 hours of live performances – music, dance, and the martial arts - on four stages.  For a list of performing and martial artists, click here. For the latest stage performance schedule (subject to change), click here.   

Japanese TV Host Yoshi Amao of Samurai Sword Soul serves as the celebrity emcee on ANA’s Pennsylvania Avenue stage, at 13th Street. McDonald’s sponsors the J-Pop Stage at 9th Street, near the FBI building. There is an interactive community stage at 12th Street, and martial artists demonstrate their skills all day at 11th Street.

There are 20 interactive, hands-on demonstrations of Japanese arts and culture, where you learn about the fascinating country of Japan. For a list of exhibitors, click here.

The Children’s Corner is an interactive hands-on area that introduces a variety of traditional Japanese activities, from origami (Japanese paper-folding) to Japanese games, calligraphy, and story-telling.

The Ginza Marketplace sells traditional Japanese products, and J-Pop Land has products and activities that celebrate Japan’s modern culture, from pop music to anime and fashion. Three Matsuri Markets sell a variety of soft drinks from Coca-Cola as well as Japanese snacks. For a list of vendors and products being sold at the Sakura Matsuri, click here.

 Each year Sakura Matsuri welcomes special guests. This year’s visitors include:

• Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi (link)
  
  
• Akinori Ogata, the only Japanese driver on the NASCAR circuit (link)
  
  
• Members of “the Greatest Generation,” US Army veterans of Japanese ancestry who served in the famous 442 “Go for Broke” regiment and the MIS during World War II (link)
  
  
• Maki Kaji, the “father of sudoku” (link)
  
  
• The Cherry Blossom Festival Princesses, and
  
  
•  Andrea Zimmerman, author of the new children’s book,  Eliza’s Cherry Trees: Japan’s Gift to America (link)