Riot grrl group the Suzan are part of second annual j-CATION celebration at Japan Society on April 14
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Saturday, April 14, $10, 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
Japan Society’s “Sakura — Spring Renews, Beauty Blooms” series comes to a close on Saturday with the second annual j-CATION, a twelve-hour program of special events celebrating the season and more. The New York Suwa Taiko Association gets things going at 11:00 am with a Taiko Kick-Off, followed by traditional Kamishibai storytelling at 11:20, 12 noon, 12:40 and Simply Stunning Shodo calligraphy classes taught by Masako Inkyo starting every forty-five minutes from 11:30 to 5:30. At 1:00 you can participate in the Japanese adult game show You’re on Standby!, which challenges the mind and the body and will earn one audience member free round-trip airfare to Japan. Adrienne Wong will give cherry blossom block printing demonstrations from 3:00 to 5:00, the same time that Sakura Cinema presents Tomu Uchida’s 1960 classic Killing in Yoshiwara (Heroes of the Red-Light District). There will also be Japanese for Beginners classes at 3:15, 4:00, 4:45, and 5:30. All day long you can hang out in the Hana-mi Lounge, which will be serving Japanese snacks and drinks and will host afternoon karaoke; pick up some wagashi in the foyer; learn origami and add paper cherry blossoms to a wall installation; read brand-new sakura-related haiku from around the world; play hanafuda, wanage, and kendama in the game room; check out the exhibition “Deco Japan: Shaping Art & Culture, 1920-1945” (and win a prize for being among the first three hundred people to complete the “Decoration Exploration”); and visit “Memory: Things We Should Never Forget,” a photography display about the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan. The festivities conclude with the Yozakura Nights concert at 8:00 with the bilingual Alex York and riot-grrl garage punks the Suzan, followed by a dance party with DJ Aki.