Published on:
11
February 2013
A day to celebrate Japanese culture took place this week at Clackmannanshire Council's Ludgate Resource Centre in Alloa.
The day which was packed with a variety of events and Japanese traditions, proved to be a tremendous success and attended by over 30 service users from both the Respite and Day Care Centres.
Japanese Day at Ludgate included Japanese food tasting, with among the delights on offer being chicken tsukune and traditional sushi, with a teriyaki marinade.
The service users were then treated to a Kimono Workshop by Sato McConnell, originally from Japan, but has been working at Ludgate for the past ten years as a social care practitioner.
She was assisted by her younger sister Hiroko Nishikawa, who was on holiday from Japan. Both of the sisters originate from Hiroshima. They were joined at the demonstration by two of their friends, now based in Glasgow, Chiharu and Yoshi Asano Campbell. One of the first to get dressed up in a Kimono was Bessie Fells, 95, who was thrilled by the experience.
Bessie said: "It was a wonderful day and everyone has thoroughly enjoyed the event and learning more about Japanese culture. I hope they have similar type days in the future."
The idea of the Japanese Day was the brainchild of Sato, who came to Scotland and to Alloa in 1997. She met her husband Alastair in Edinburgh. He is originally from Forres in the north of Scotland. Japanese Day was held to co-incide with her sisters visit to Scotland.
Sato explained: "I hadn't seen my sister for four years so I thought it would be a nice idea for this event to be held."
The event also included an Origami demonstration; arts and crafts with Japanese music being played by Sato and Japanese classical dance performed by Yoshie, a professional Japanese dancer. She also performed a dance using a kasa, a traditional Japanese parasol.
In the afternoon there was also a demonstration and learning session for the service users of Japanese Calligraphy, and the chance to use a Japanese fude, the special writing instrument used in calligraphy.