Here are some pictures to give a feel for the kinds of things that went on at the annual Washington DC Cherry Blossom Street Festival (a “sakura matsuri”, “桜祭り” in Japanese). This year’s matsuri was in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the gift of cherry trees from the people of Japan to the people of the US, in 1912. This year the DC and Federal governments went all out, this festival was larger than any I’ve been to, and very well organized. There were cosplayers (people dressed in costumes of their favorite anime or video game characters), many people in traditional kimono or other dress, and many musical acts, especially the taiko drummers.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting my camera to take good pictures, and so this collection is the best of the shoot. I know why they call it a “shoot” now, since that’s all I was saying as I was looking at the pictures. Or at least, it was kind of like “shoot”…
At any rate, here are the pictures, enjoy!
