Japan Festival 

Nihon Matsuri - にほん まつり

Sugoi! すごい Wow!

What an absolutely brilliant day we had last Friday 3rd May, celebrating our annual Nihon Matsuri event.

The day kicked off with a whole school assembly in which we saw a hand made dragon to celebrate year of the dragon, special guest Pikachu and a brief kendo performance.

Later in the day, the Prep – Grade 2 students enjoyed an entertaining Shamisen performance by the talented Noriko Tadano. The fun didn’t stop there as the Grade 3 students participated in kendo workshops, Grade 4 learnt the art of manga drawing with visiting manga artist Sam Harmer and The Ballarat Dojo got the Grade 5/6 students sweating in their karate workshops. The weather turned out to be perfect for our Japanese style sports sessions and a variety of cultural and artistic projects were completed across the school.

A sensational whole school collaborative koi fish pond was created out the front of the school with koi fish, lily pads and water lilies made by our talented artists across the school. The koi fish are a symbol of Japan’s Children’s Day, celebrated on May 5th in Japan. Due to their ability to swim up stream, koi fish represent courage, determination and the hope that our children will grow up to be strong and healthy.

Another super popular Japan Shop operated throughout the lunch break… we may just have to re-stock the ever popular Pocky and have another Japan Shop later in the year to meet the demand!

ありがとう ございます Thank you very much for making the day such a success! We look forward to next year!