My friend Reiko, who works for the Bunkyo City government here in Tokyo, invited me to a culture festival they were holding around mid-February. It was, overall, a blast: “free” is very much the right price for me and my fellow students; Bunkyo is a super swank city where Tokyo University (Todai) is located, lots of Todai graduates live, and where I can only guess their taxes help pay for the very impressive government building the festival was hosted in. The entire festival was very well thought out and accommodating to foreigners, sharing different parts of traditional Japanese culture via displays and knowledgeable on-hand experts.

At Reiko’s recommendation, we arrived before noon to beat the crowds and went first to the Ikebana (flower arrangement) station. There an ikebana teacher showed us how to place the flowers following some basics of the craft’s aesthetics. This amounted to making a sort of triangle shape with the height/placement of the flowers. We were then given our flowers to wrap up and take home. Mine were tragically crushed by the end of the day, and I had to toss them – but don’t they look lovely?

During our visit we also learned calligraphy, and after practicing under the teacher’s instruction a few times, we painted our characters of choice on paper fans. At yet another area we made our very own artificial bonsai trees – probably the best plant option for me, since everything else seems to die on my watch. My fake bonsai, however, is still green and flowering after many weeks!

All in all it was a fantastic day courtesy of the Bunkyo City office. Thanks Reiko and thanks Bunkyo!