Here’s how to celebrate Japanese culture in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – Get ready for a taste of Japanese culture in Kamloops next week.

Lance Yamada, the chairman of the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Association, is putting together the city’s first Japanese Summer Festival on Saturday, July 14.

With the help of the committee, Yamada says the city's first Natsu Matsuri, which translates to summer festival, will give people in Kamloops a chance to experience Japanese culture through food, music, entertainment, crafts, and celebration.

“It’s the first of it’s kind here in Kamloops,” Yamada says. “It’ll take place at the Kamloops Buddhist Temple on Poplar Street.”

Yamada says the idea behind the festival came from a similar festival that takes place in Vancouver to celebrate Japanese culture in Canada.

“I’ve always gone to the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver,” he says. “It’s kind of like Canada Day, except it’s Japanese; there are food vendors, information booths, a bunch of culture actives and entertainment.”

Yamada says with the help of the Japanese committee members, they decided to organize something for this summer.

“There’s a group of ladies on the committee that came from Japan…they have lots of ideas on how they do festivals there and so we wanted to expose that here," he says.

There’ll be Japanese food, entertainment, dancing, origami workshops, Japanese music and a chance to view inside the Kamloops Buddhist Temple.

"I hope to see more of these events going forward and continuing in the future," he says.

The family-friendly event will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 361 Poplar St. next Saturday.

For more information or questions contact the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Association at events@kjca.ca or 250-319-7779.

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