Cherry Blossom Festival

The Cherry Blossom Festival is a cultural event that shares Japanese culture in Hawaii. It is run by the HJJCC (Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce) and every year they hold a contest for young women to be able to be part of the court as princesses or even crowned queen. They do not call it a pageant because they want to focus more on the cultural aspects instead of beauty, and they judge more on poise and public speaking skills. They judge on these skills instead of beauty so that the cherry blossom court can be a group of women who can be good role models for Japanese American women.

Through this event I’ve been able to experience amazing cultural classes such as ramen making and taiko lessons. The coordination for some of the events takes team work, such as when we learned to do Okinawan lion dancing. It also creates a sense of competition without becoming hostile towards eachother.

This experience also teaches us public speaking skills. Through the contestant period, there were public events where the contestants were brought on stage in a mall and given an impromptu question in order to get a sense for their poise as well as their personalities and values. As a cherry blossom court member, although we mostly did volunteer events to help with either HJJCC or other organizations such as the Blood Bank or Humane Society, there were still public events that would require us to upkeep our speaking skills.