“Enjoy the beauty of dozens of signature floral compositions highlighting the wide breadth of flower arrangement styles in one of Japan’s most cherished art forms, during our Spring 2020 Ikebana Floral Festival.

As we do each year, we open the Gardens to the talented adepts of five different schools of Ikebana practice. The result: elegant floral displays throughout our grounds and buildings that reflect the harmony, discipline, and refinement of traditional Japanese flower arranging.

The festival runs from Thursday, February 20 through Saturday, February 29 . Admission is free for members of the Gardens. Admission for non-members is $15 for adults and $5 for children ages three to 15, and includes entry to the entire Gardens, our Museum, and our Art Gallery.

Be sure to combine your visit with a walk through our permanent display of selections from our collection of more than 200 Ikebana vases and vessels – the largest in the nation. Made of ceramics, bamboo, bronze, lacquer, clay, and glass, some are more than a century old, others are contemporary; all are carefully designed to complement the Zen-like spirit of the flower arrangements they hold.

Festival parking is available in the lot inside our main gate on North Alvernon Way and on East Justin Lane, one half block south of the Gardens. Please DO NOT park on East Hampton Place, immediately north of Yume.”

www.yumegardens.org, 2130 N. Alvernon Way in Tucson

Odaiko Sonora taiko drummers from Tucson will be performing on Feb. 22 at 10:40 a.m. at the Taiko Stage.

Tucson’s Suzuyuki-Kai dancers will be dancing on Main stage as follows:
22nd Saturday: 2:30 -3:15 pm
23rd Sunday: 2:15-3:30 pm

Arizona Kyudo Kai/UA Kyudo Club to perform 1:45 p.m. on Sunday on the Martial Arts Stage.

The Takoyaki Balls truck from Tucson will be in spot F14 in the Circle of Life area northwest quadrant (most of the food trucks will be in that area).

UPDATE 2/19/20: SAJCC Editor Carolyn Classen just got notification that a haiku she wrote has been selected as Outstanding Haiku for this festival. It will be on display at the Haiku Booth.

“Strong Issei people

Jailed in camps in the desert

Shikata ga nai”

(Translation: Issei are the 1st generation Japanese Americans, who emigrated from Japan; Shikata ga nai means “It cannot be helped”).

All info at www.azmatsuri.org, including map/location info for Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Rd. in Phoenix.

Church of the Painted Hills is out west of Greasewood Rd. in Tucson, west of the I-10.

More info at www.tsuruforsolidarity.org.

“As members of the Trump administration have raised the specter of a Muslim registry and instituted an immigration ban against people from Muslim majority countries, they have cited the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as the precedent. As the documentary And Then They Came for Us demonstrates, the registration and incarceration of Japanese Americans was one of the worst violations of constitutional rights in American history. The U.S. government lied about the threat of espionage to justify the incarceration. Not a single person was ever convicted of espionage or treason. As we commemorate the 77th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 which was signed by President Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, the film documents through the use of photos taken by Dorothea Lange and others, the damage this order did to 120,000 people, two thirds of whom were American citizens. Featuring George Takei and many others who were incarcerated, And Then They Came for Us. “

. This event is led by APA Community Council in collaboration with APASA, Initiatives for Organizational Inclusion, Japanese American Student Association,  and efforts to push for #APAStudiesby2020.

Student Union Memorial Center is at 1303 E. University Blvd. on the UA campus.

Carolyn’s note: Panel discussion to follow, with me as a participant having been the Legislative Aide to US Senator Dan Inouye, who was instrumental in pushing through the bill that created the National Commission on Wartime Relocation & Internment of Civilians, which investigated this wrong in the 1980’s, leading to the reparation of $20,000/internee in 1988.

Integrated Learning Center (ILC) is at 1500 E. University Blvd, just west of Cherry Avenue. It is underground, with access through north & south elevators, and stairways.