A Japanese Visitor Travels To Roosevelt Island - Take A Walk With Matsuko

From the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse:

Travel to Roosevelt Island/ ルーズベルト島の桜https://t.co/gPlnSuInGE

— Mutsuko Takahashi (@Walking_NewYork) July 28, 2017

Scenes From 2016 Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival - Japanese Tea Ceremony, Music, Dance, Food & Culture

The Sixth Annual Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival took place yesterday at several locations around the Island.

#RooseveltIsland is ringed almost entirely by cherry trees so we celebrate with a Cherry Blossom Festival. 👘 pic.twitter.com/QWmEFOccbw

— Melissa A. Wade (@Honeybee22274) April 30, 2016

The 2016 Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival began with a Tea Ceremony at Manhattan Park's Central Park 

Images By Lynn Strong-Shinozaki

and the Roosevelt Island Parents' Network Picnic
 

 Image From Eva Bosbach

followed by Music, Dance and Martial Arts performances at the Manhattan Park Theater Club Plaza

Iaikai Dojo from @RESOBOX performed Iaido (samurai swords) at Roosevelt Island Sakura Matsuri. pic.twitter.com/QXo1yL17QM

— Hiroko Miyashita (@hirolyn_ny) May 1, 2016

hosted by Master Of Ceremonies Jim Luce.

Cherry Blossoms Festival @ Roosevelt Island with Dr. Kazukosan and the amazing Jim Luce as our… https://t.co/Etmh6ojTLu

— Esther Yang (@estheryangny) May 1, 2016

Cherry Blossoms Festival @ Roosevelt Island with Dr. Kazukosan and the amazing Jim Luce as our Emcee. #cherryblossom #nyc #japan #love

A photo posted by Esther Yang (@esther.yang) on Apr 30, 2016 at 6:20pm PDT

Here's some of what happened at yesterday's Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival.

A little flavor of today's Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival: https://t.co/PvQisFj8FN

— Nick Turner (@SFNick) May 1, 2016

A Yosakoi dance by Roosevelt Island kids,



more dance,

#rooseveltisland #cherryblossomfestival - no sound for middle dance clip, oops/sorry (cc… https://t.co/Y7lduYNzrv

— ScottyP (@scottpiro) April 30, 2016

#rooseveltisland #cherryblossomfestival - no sound for middle dance clip, oops/sorry (cc @rooseveltisland

A video posted by ScottyP (@scottpiro) on Apr 30, 2016 at 10:24am PDT

and Gerald Starlight playing Sakuhachi (Japanese flute) at the Gallery RIVAA.



After the performances, Roosevelt Island kids got a close up view of the Japanese instruments.

Images From Roosevelt Island Parents' Network Coordinator Eva Bosbach

Also, the Roosevelt Island Japanese community

shares these pictures taken at the Manhattan Park Theater Club Plaza and Gallery RIVAA during the 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival.

It was a fun day.

First Sunday Of The Month Jazz Salon Returns To Roosevelt Island's Gallery RIVAA On May 1 With The Metrocard Unlimited - On The Meditation Steps Played With Japanese Shakuhachi Performed At Gallery RIVAA Today For Cherry Blossom Festival Too

Gallery RIVAA's First Sunday of the Month Jazz Salon is back tomorrow, May 1, starting at 4 PM.

Come hear The Metrocard Unlimited Jazz Society perform. According to their web site:

The Metrocard Unlimited Jazz Society band brings a range of talent and music - from swing to bossa to funk !. This NYC band has deep roots in jazz and its members can be heard as featured artists in many local venues. Driven by rhythm and original arrangements of some the great jazz standards, Metrocard Unlimited Jazz Society also brings in the groove with contemporary sounds. Featuring the smooth and smokey vocal stylings of Allegra Levy, a rising star on the NY club scene, the definitive and distinctive Leah Gough-Cooper on Sax, the deep groove of Tim Norton on Bass, and the precision timekeeping of Matt Rousseau on drums. The band's Musical Director and featured Guitarist is Andrew Baird, an outstanding talent who is also a respected music educator and composer. The band is co-ordinated and includes,on Guitar, documentary filmmaker Susheel Kurien (Finding Carlton - Uncovering the Story of Jazz in India)

Also returning to the Gallery RIVAA First Sunday Of the Month Jazz Salon will be singer Allegra Levy.

Here's Ms. Levy performing with Art & The Impressionists at Gallery RIVAA in May 2014.



Earlier today, Gallery RIVAA was the site for a performance by Gerald Starlight

playing the Shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese Bamboo flute) as part of the Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival. Mr Starlight performed

On the Meditation Steps.

Take a listen.



Interesting stuff happening at Gallery RIVAA. Check it out.

You're Invited To Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival Saturday April 30 - Japaneses Tea Ceremony, Music, Dance, Martial Arts, Cultural Fair, Sake Tasting & More

Image From RIOC

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) invites you to the 6th Annual Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday April 30. According to RIOC:

Sixth Annual Cherry Blossom Festival!

You are invited to join the Roosevelt Island community for a festive day of events, celebrating the Cherry Blossoms in bloom and featuring an array of Japanese cultural activities. This free event will take place throughout Roosevelt Island, at various locations. For a detailed map, please visit.

Schedule of Activities:

Manhattan Park
11:00 AM: Tea Ceremony & Community Picnics (bring your own food and blanket) at Manhattan Park’s Central Park, 10-40 River Rd.

12:00 – 4:00 PM: Music, Dance, and Martial Arts Performances at Theater Club Plaza, 8 River Rd.

Westview Promenade Plaza

11:00 AM: Senior & Disabled Community Picnics

Gallery RIVAA
1:00 – 4 PM: Japanese Cultural Fair

5:00 – 6 PM: Sakuhachi (Japanese flute)

Island Wine & Spirits

4:00 – 7:00 PM: Sake Tasting

Sayuri is the representative of the Japanese community on Roosevelt Island for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Sayuri shares these photos of preparation and practice for the Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival.

Practicing Yosakoi dance.

Calligraphy.

Girl with flower (for Yosakoi dance).

Kitsuke (Kimono wearing).

Sign of origami fishing

and Origami sample (how to make a samurai hat )

Here are some scenes from the 2015 Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival.

Check Out The Noguchi Museum Just Blocks From The Roosevelt Island Bridge In Long Island City This Weekend - 30th Anniversary Programming Includes Tom Sachs Interpretation Of Chanoyu Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony

 Image From Inhabitat

Looking for something interesting and fun to do this weekend. Take a walk over the Roosevelt Island Bridge to the Noguchi Museum



in Long Island City right across from Costco at Vernon B'lvd and 33rd Street.

It's #FreeFriday! Free admission until 5; and tours in English and Japanese at 2. https://t.co/1zoLJqKKbn pic.twitter.com/QEdL4DsaUV

— The Noguchi Museum (@NoguchiMuseum) April 1, 2016

We're so thrilled to welcome contemporary artists like #TomSachs to #Noguchi #futureMW #MuseumWeek pic.twitter.com/IPeCyvQdl4

— The Noguchi Museum (@NoguchiMuseum) April 1, 2016

Currently exhibiting at the Noguchi Museum is Tom Sachs Tea Ceremony. 

 Image From Noguchi Museum

According to the Noguchi Museum:

The Museum’s 30th-anniversary programming culminates with an installation by celebrated artist Tom Sachs. This major exhibition is the first at the Museum to present work by a single artist other than Noguchi.

The exhibition centers on an immersive environment representing Sachs’ distinctive reworking of chanoyu, or traditional Japanese tea ceremony—including the myriad elements essential to that intensely ritualistic universe.

Among the large stone sculptures by Isamu Noguchi in the Museum’s indoor/outdoor galleries, Sachs has set a tea house in a garden accessorized with variations on lanterns, gates, a wash basin, a plywood airplane lavatory, a koi pond, an ultra HD video wall with the sublime hyper-presence of Mt. Fuji, a bronze bonsai made of over 3,600 individually welded parts, and other objects of use and contemplation. Sachs has also produced a complete alternative material culture of Tea—from bowls and ladles, scroll paintings and vases, to a motorized tea whisk, a shot clock, and an electronic brazier.

Check out the Noguchi Museum - just a few blocks from the Roosevelt Island Bridge on Vernon B'lvd and 33rd Street in Long Island City.

Solar Technology, Japanese Know How And Local Gardeners Grow Vegetables At Roosevelt Island Community Garden Hoop House This Past Winter

Despite an extremely harsh winter this past year, Roosevelt Island residents Ron Davidson, Kyoko Abe and Jennifer Dunning grew fresh vegetables at their Roosevelt Island Community Garden plots by using solar technology together with traditional Japanese rituals and practices to heat their "Hoop House".

Image Of Roosevelt Island Community Garden Hoop House From You Tube Video

According to Eco Watch: 

Looking to grow more of your own food year-round? A hoop house could be the answer.

A hoop house is a series of large hoops or bows—made of metal, plastic pipe or wood—covered with a layer of heavy greenhouse plastic. The plastic is stretched tight and fastened to baseboards with strips of wood, metal or wire. A hoop house is heated by the sun and cooled by the wind. Hoop houses can be erected over a patch of ground or rows of raised beds. They can cost as little as a hundred dollars or as much as a couple thousand dollars...

Mr. Davidson reports that the Roosevelt Island Hoop House:

• was built for about $60 each with pvc pipes, transparent plastic drop cloth sheeting and bubble wrap,
• inspired by the similar structures in the Tohoku region of northern Japan which was devastated by the tsunami of 2011 and the White House Hoop House built by First Lady Michelle Obama,
• Solar power only used to maintain growing space during harsh winter weather,
• Construction process included Japanese rituals and practices ... example, pre-construction himorogi 神籬 to invite the blessings of the local spirits.
• Spinach, chard, sorrel and hearty Japanese vegetables (mizuna, shiso, komatsuna, hakusai and shungiku) survived and thrived,
• Ground used for composting winter kitchen scraps in preparation for spring planting and

produced vegetables that:

taste astonishingly good and fresh.

Photographer Kurt Wittman shares

Image From Kurt Wittman

these photos

Image From Kurt Wittman

of the Hoop House

Image From Kurt Wittman

this past winter

Image From Kurt Wittman

at the Roosevelt Island Community Garden.

I spoke with Mr. Davidson last March 31 as he was taking the Hoop House down. Here's what he had to say.



Mr. Wittman shows us the winter Hoop House before it was taken down and speaks with Ms. Abe, who responds in Japanese, and Mr. Davidson. The audio with Mr. Davidson is not the best because of the wind but understandable.



Looking forward to the Roosevelt Island Hoop House for next winter and learning about future innovative plans for the Roosevelt Island Community Garden from Mr. Davidson.

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Roosevelt Island Gastronomic Civilization!

Sign on the window of the new Fuji East Japanese Bistro at Riverwalk announcing the Grand Opening of Roosevelt Island's newest restaurant on Saturday, March 1.
HOORAY!

Japanese Restaurant Coming to Roosevelt Island Soon

A sign for the new Japanese Restaurant, Fuji East, went up today at 455 Main Street announcing their opening soon. It's hard to believe but there will soon be restaurant options here on Roosevelt Island. Yay!!!
Also, I was told to expect a September 10 openng for Duane Reade.