Traditionally the home of the festival’s mainstage, the Sakura Tent in previous years housed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Richmond Cherry Blossom Festival. This year’s video includes welcome messages from Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, Consul General Takashi Hatori of the Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver, and the BC Wakayama Kenjin Kai’s Dr. Jim Tanaka, Mary Hirano, and Sammy Hirano. The video closes with a special shigin (performance of a Japanese poem), which pays tribute to the pioneering Japanese immigrant Gihei Kuno. The background music heard throughout the video is an original composition by Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos performed on the shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and shinkin (three-stringed lute). Video narration by local theatre artist Jason Sakaki.
🌸 Learn more about the Richmond Cherry Blossom Festival 2021:
🌸 Listen to the full original composition by Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos:
AloJapan.com