About
The 2020 Greater Kansas City
Virtual Japan Festival
The HAJAS’s Greater Kansas City Japan Festival, scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2020, will not be held “in-person” this year at the Johnson County Community College.
Instead, we have produced a 2020 Virtual GKC Japan Festival. You will find numerous presentations from some of your favorite festival performers and presenters. October 3 will be the date when all performance videos are posted and the 2020 Virtual GKC Japan Festival officially begins.
Our Most Accessible Festival
Unlike our traditional festival, which is a one-day event, you can view our videos at your leisure and watch them as many times as you would like. These videos will be available well into to next year for you to enjoy and allow time for you to tell your friends to join you in viewing these presentations about Japanese culture.
Also, unlike our traditional performance, there is no charge for your attendance due to grants from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (the CGP Relief Grant for U.S.-Japan Grassroots Exchanges under COVID-19 Challenges) and the Chicago Japanese Consulate! We thank these organizations for their support!
Thanks to our Financial Sponsors
The Japan Foundation, Center for Global Partnership
Consulate General of Japan in Chicago
Our performance videos include the following presentations:
Musical Performances
- Japanese Pop Artist Aya Uchida, with Jo Yamanaka on guitar;
- Three Trails Taiko, our local professional taiko group;
- Shamisen performance by John Lytton;
- Japanese Classical Guitarist Nanae Fujiware.
Japanese Cultural Performances
- Kamishibai (Japanese Paper Theater), by Danial Roy;
- Origami Workshop;
- Calligraphy Workshop;
- Japanese Language for Beginners;
- Kimono Demonstration;
- Japanese Calligraphy Scroll Story – “The Narrow Road to Oku” by Matsuo Bashō;
- Nihon-ga — Traditional Japanese Painting;
- Japanese and American TV Game Shows by Joshua Murphy;
- Calligraphy Demonstration by Ryoichi Kinoshita Sensei — (Aikido 7th Dan Shihan; Shodo Shihan) from Osaka, Japan — Kinoshita Sensei was the featured performer at our 2018 GKC Japan Festival;
-
Miyuki Sugimori, Japanese Candy Artist – Miyuki comes to our festival each year and is extremely popular with children – she was previously the Japanese Candy Artist at Epcot at Disney World in Orlando, Florida for many years.
Martial Arts Performances
- Aikido demonstration by students of the Aikijuku Dojo;
- Kendo demonstration by the Kansas City Kendo Club with John Drakey and his students;
- An Iaijutsu demonstration by William Perkins.
Our 2021 GKC Japan Festival is already scheduled at the Johnson County Community College for Saturday, October 2, 2021.
We all hope by then we will no longer have to deal with COVID-19!
Donate
Because we cannot have a physical festival, we are offering this virtual festival free to the community! Please consider placing a donation to the Greater Kansas City Japan Festival in place of admission this year.