Hutt Minoh Friendship House's Japan Spring Festival

activewellington
Sep 29, 2015
1 min read

On Sunday 27th September, the Hutt Minoh House Friendship Trust organised its annual Japan Spring Festival.

Luckily Wellington's weather had decided to be on its best behaviour and it was a lovely sunny day, where Festival goers could enjoy a great and varied line up of Japanese Cultural performances and admire the beautiful garden in bloom.

The programme included some Kyudo (Japanese Archery) demonstration, traditionnal singing and dancing, a giant calligraphy performance, tea ceremony demonstration as well as a "Japanese Class" organised by Active Wellington's volunteer.

Our two volunteers, Shizuka and Junya wrote a play around the theme of a foreigner travelling to Japan to introduce dos and donts as well as some useful basic vocabulary, such as "where are the toilets". They were also helped by Mana for props and Celine as an extra for acting.

Both the volunteers and the audience had a great time and there was a lot of laughter in the room, as our two main characters from different cultural background and not speaking a common language were trying to communicate and interact together.

At 4.00 pm, after a long and fulfilling afternoon, the Spring Festival finished and all attendees and volunteers went back home with a smile on their face and a head full of happy memories.

The Active Wellington team had a great time working with the Committee and our volunteers in the weeks leading to this event and are looking forward to collaborate with the Hutt Minoh House Friendship Trust in the future as the Japan Spring Festival keeps growing, going from strength to strength.