Apr 2nd 2017 O.A.
Cherry Blossom Festival
Sunday, March 19th was the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Central Park in Huntington Beach. This festival is ran by the Sister City Association of Huntington Beach and this year is the 4th time. At the event, ramen and takoyaki were served at the Japanese food booth. There were cultural booths as well as performances being held, and 7000 people attended the event. Huntington Beach became sister cities with Anjo City 35 years ago. Since then, they held socializing programs between them and exchanging 4 teenage students at their cities. This festival started from the ideas of students that returned from Japan as part of the Japan/US bonding and to raise funds for high school students staying in Japan. The cherry blossom tree was donated from Anjo City and the participants all took pictures with the tree that fully bloomed. 4 high school students that are exchanged will homestay in Japan for 2 weeks from the end of July.
Onizuka Space Science Day
Onizuka Space Science Day was held at the El Camino College in Torrance on Saturday, March 11th and local space loving kids gathered at the event. Every year, Honda holds this event in honoring the Japanese American astronaut, Ellison Onizuka who was lost in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster 31 years ago. Astronaut, Kjell N. Lindgren who was selected as a member of the ISS to stay in space for 141 days, was invited as the guest speaker and told many stories to the children. This year is the 30th year for the event and Lorna Onizuka, the wife of Ellison Onizuka’s brother attended this year. At the Q&A session, the kids had the chance to ask their questions to Kjell. At the experimental session after the lecture was over, the kids learned science through different themes they enjoy.