The 11th Japan Day at the Japanese garden in Den Helder (2 July 2017)

On Sunday 2 July, the botanical garden Hortus Overzee in Den Helder was the venue of the 11th annual Japan Day. A new window looking out over the Japanese garden was unveiled by Mrs. Kawahara, charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Japan, and Mr. Krijns, the Deputy Mayor of Den Helder.
 
Several hundreds of visitors enjoyed Japanese culture at a variety of stands with origami, ikebana, handcrafted temari, sumie, and the Embassy stand. They could also participate in a sushi workshop and admire a kyudo (Japanese archery) demonstration.
A party of the NPO ‘the Art of Sake and Japanese Food Culture Mission’ from Japan was also present and offered some brands of flesh sake bottled in kegs that were made in Den Helder and some fine cuisine.
 
The Japan Day was on the last day of this year’s special Japan Week, which started on the 27^th of June. During this week full of events, a tree-pruning workshop was given by an expert from Japan and there was a lecture about Von Siebold as well.
In addition, Mr. Blank, the chairman of Hortus Overzee, biked about 140 kilometers from The Hague to Den Helder for charity to build a friendship park in 2018 in Rikuzentakata, the area that was heavily hit by the tsunami of 2011.