The Tucson Japanese Festival is returning for its 9th year celebrating Japanese culture. The event will take place on March 15 at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, located at 1288 W. River Rd.
The festival’s schedule includes performances by Odaiko Sonora, a Japanese ensemble drumming group, and the traditional Japanese dance group Suzuyuki-Kai. Attendees can also enjoy various martial arts demonstrations, including Aikido and Kyūdō, alongside anime, calligraphy and mochi-pounding. Food vendors will offer Japanese dishes not commonly found in Arizona, such as takoyaki balls.
Sharon Arceneaux, co-director of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition, hopes the event will leave attendees with a renewed understanding and appreciation of Japanese language and culture.
“Sometimes people have a very set idea of certain things,” Arceneaux said. “It’s always interesting to see people talk about things like the tea ceremony, they may not have ever seen a traditional dance group perform.”
The festival is sponsored by the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition, an organization dedicated to supporting and promoting Japanese culture in Tucson and southern Arizona. According to Arceneaux, the festival began as a smaller event at Pima Community College, initially attracting around 400 to 500 visitors. The following year, attendance grew to about 600 to 700. After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival returned last year with over 2,000 attendees.
“Many of the patrons had never heard of the festival before, but their interest in Japanese culture from the music all the way down to the arts was just absolutely phenomenal, it’s mind blowing,” Arcenaux said. “No clue how many we’re anticipating this year, we’re hoping that we’ll match last year’s numbers or even beat it, but we’re just extremely grateful that people come and participate.”
The coalition is a grassroots effort made up of volunteers. The committee consists of 11 people who coordinate artists, performers, food vendors and marketplace vendors. The committee is supported by 75 volunteers who staff the admissions booth, run the raffle and distribute samples.
The volunteers are unpaid; instead, the funds generated by the event are reinvested into supporting the local Tucson community, including organizations like the Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson and the Tucson Japanese Language School.
The coalition also runs a 50/50 raffle at the festival to raise funds for sending two students from the University of Arizona’s Department of East Asian Studies to study abroad in Kyoto, Japan, for a week. This year, the Coalition hopes to raise enough funds to send three students.
“I just think that Tucson is so richly diverse,” Arceneaux said. “I just think it’s our community and their desire to learn and embrace cultures and diversity.”
Those interested in attending can find more information on the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition’s website and their associated Facebook page.
