Powell Street Festival

I always enjoy going to the Powell Street Festival and the weather was perfect this year. Terry Watada read from his book Three Pleasures on the riot by Japanese Nationals at the Immigration Building. He described it as a resistance movement, which gives it a more romantic tone. John Endo Greenaway provided rhythmic accompaniment and I think it really added to the dramatic feel and sense of violence. I had beef curry with rice nad corn on the cob with mugi cha. I had imagawayaki, the red bean pastry. I dropped in on some familiar faces. THey so many dedicated volunteers.

I heard Zack Davisson talk about Japanese Yokai, mysterious things. He has actually been a translator for Shigeru Mizuki who is best known for his stories of the supernatural, which reintroduced Japanese to these stories and also invented his own. At another talk he spoke about a weird thing of Tsukumogami, enchanted objects, which I'd never heard about before. Things becoming animated after being used for a hundred years. I have been working on a long story incorporating Japanese folk tales into the context of the Japanese Canadian internment, so it was interesting to hear aobut it evolved within Japanese culture as well.

I chatted with the artist Nao Uda who grew up in Japan but she had an ancestor who had lived in Canada and she has been exploring that aspect of him. It was an interesting parallel to the work I have been doing about my Baachan. Such an wonderful day.