For the third year in a row, the Japan ICU Foundation partnered successfully with our great ICU Alumni DC Chapter in staffing a special ICU booth at the annual Sakura Matsuri – Washington, DC street festival. As the largest single-day event of its type in the U.S., organized by the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC, it provides us a great opportunity to reach many new and interested prospective international students for ICU. Many thanks to all of our hard-working ICU alumni and friends in DC who made this the best year thus far!

Participating in Sakura Matsuri is a great way to reach a high number of people who are already interested in Japan and Japanese culture, while also building bonds with our ICU alumni and friends in DC. An estimated 40,000 festival-goers attend the annual day of fun, food, music, and Japanese culture. We had excellent teamwork from our DC Chapter members, who provided about 15 volunteers to staff our booth throughout the day and help spread the word about ICU. This year’s festival was especially nice, as we were blessed with a perfectly warm and breezy spring day!

We also had the chance to meet three great ICU exchange students, all of whom are really enjoying their time in the U.S. One of them, Ms. Yuki Kawano, offered her perspective on her time here thus far:

“My experience at Georgetown is way beyond my expectation, and my professors and classmates always give me stimulating insights. I can cultivate what I learned at ICU critically and try thinking in multilateral ways. Besides my formal studies, I enjoy singing in the gospel choir and have a wonderful time with other exchange students. I really appreciate ICU providing such a great opportunity and having amazing communities of alumni around the world, like the people I met here at the Sakura Matsuri.”

Following the long day of telling prospective international students about ICU, a group of alumni, family members, and friends gathered together to relax and enjoy a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant. Organized by ICU DC Chapter leader Motoko Shimizu, this was a great opportunity to reflect on the day’s activities and share memories of times spent on ICU’s lovely verdant campus.

Dr. Mitsuhiro “Mitch” Kaneda, Ph.D., Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, offered his comments on the ICU Alumni-JICUF partnership for Sakura Matsuri. Mitch is an ICU alumnus and also serves as a Trustee on the Japan ICU Foundation’s Board. As Mitch said:

“For three years in a row, this has been a wonderful opportunity for ICU alumni across generations to interact with each other, while introducing ICU widely to locals, festival visitors, and the DC Japanese population. Dr. Nao Koshiya was absolutely the champion with his energy and enthusiasm. Nobody can be more effective at our ICU booth; we were able to distribute hundreds of ICU brochures and Mark Flanigan went back to JICUF in New York with a light suitcase.”

“As always, ICU DC Chapter leader Motoko Shimizu organized a very nice dinner get-together following the long day’s activities. The beer tasted especially good after our day of active volunteering at the ICU booth. With sakura at full bloom, it was a perfect day.”

Indeed, this is a wonderful partnership that continues to build the bonds of ‘kizuna‘ with each new year. The staff of JICUF always enjoy seeing and hearing from our alumni chapter in DC, as well as from those in diverse places like Boston, NY/NJ, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Northern and Southern California, and Honolulu. We will be featuring profiles of our various ICU alumni chapters and groups in upcoming e-newsletters, so stay tuned for more!

You can see more photos from the Sakura Matsuri 2015 album on the Japan ICU Foundation’s Facebook link here.