Revised programme Cherry Blossom Festival 2011
As a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March, there is a revised programme for this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival to be held in Amstelveen on 6 April 2011. During this traditional festival, special attention will be paid to the people of Japan who are now coping with the effects of the disaster that struck the country on 11 March 2011.
Adapted programme
Locals, expats and the Asian community are naturally still invited to celebrate and partake in this Japanese cultural tradition. The Mayor of Amstelveen, the Japanese ambassador and several Japanese representatives will be present for the occasion.
However, this year, there will be no musical or dance performances and traditional Japanese delicacies will not be served as usual. To pay tribute to the people of Japan, there will be speeches, a poem will be recited, and there will be a moment of silence out of respect for the victims of the disaster
Celebrating spring and close ties
The Cherry Blossom Festival has been hosted by Amstelveen every year since 2000. It was then that the Japanese Women's Club (JWC) planted 400 trees in the Amsterdamse Bos to mark 400 years of trading between Japan and the Netherlands.
The location of the trees and the festival became known as Cherry Blossom Park. A special detail that illustrates the close bonds between the Dutch and the Japanese community in Amstelveen is that every tree was given a name: 200 trees have Japanese women’s names; the remainder has Dutch women’s names.
The Cherry Blossom Festival is organised by amsterdam inbusiness, the Embassy of Japan, Japanese Chamber of Commerce, JWC and the Netherlands-Japan Association (NVJ). It is regarded as a major event of the year for the Japanese community in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
Japanese community
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is home to more than 4,000 Japanese expatriates. It’s the second-largest Japanese community in Europe, and it continues to grow steadily.
Members of the local Japanese community can rely on a highly specialised group of commercial services targeted specifically at them: schools and restaurants reflecting the educational and culinary heritage of Japan; Japanese-speaking doctors; offerings of Japanese literature in the local library; and there is even a Japanese-speaking fishmonger, catering to the tastes of his fellow countrymen.
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