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Mrs. Yoshiko MORIMOTO,
wife of the Ambassador of Japan to the Sultanate of Oman, organized a cultural
event for children entitled “Matsuri
–Festivals in Japan” on 27th February 2011 at the residence of
the Ambassador of Japan inviting 60 primary school students from The Sultan’s
School.
The children received warm welcome greetings from Mrs. Morimoto in the hall which was adorned with a display of hina dolls in ancient court costumes and a set of yoroi (armor) and kabuto (helmet) in the medieval war time style, and the winners of the Haiku competition held earlier at school presented their winning pieces of English Haiku poems to the wife of the Ambassador. After a brief lecture by an Embassy staff on children’s festivals such as “hina matsuri (girls’ festival)” and “tango no sekku (children’s day)” in Japan, the students enjoyed hands-on activities and games such as dressing up in Japanese yukata, kimono and happi, origami, wanage (quoits), water balloon yoyo fishing and other games with traditional toys in an open-air festival setting recreated in the residence garden.
There also were food stands serving typical festival snacks such as yakisoba noodles, okonomiyaki savory pancakes and dango sweet dumplings.
The event was concluded with a bonodori dance. All the participants danced “Tokyo Ondo” in a circle to the beat of Japanese drum.
