Welcome to the 2009 Sakura Sisters’ Blog!

We, the 2008 Court, were invited to participate in the Japanese American Cemetery Memorial Service on 5/25/2009, during the Memorial Day weekend, in Colma, CA. For many or all of us, it was our first time attending this annual service. We were able to see at least three different kinds of religions come together as one, to honor our ancestors. We are very honored to have been able to partake in this ceremony (of giving flowers, etc.), even after our Court year has ended.

Our final duty as the 2008 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen and Court was participating in the 2009 Festival Grand Parade on April 19th. Thank you for coming to the Festival! We hope you enjoyed the festivities!
The 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen and Court:

We would like to thank our sponsor, Union Bank Of California, for allowing us to ride on such a lovely float!!!!!! <3
(this photo was taken by 2003 Queen Penny Honda)

{More photos and info. will be uploaded later / To be updated.}

During the second weekend of the 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, we welcomed our royal JA sister city courts from Seattle, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, and their hospitality committee members, chaperones, and other guests. We truly appreciate their visiting us and we are so glad to see them once more before the end of our court year. Although our “reign” has officially ended, we were not technically done yet. We’ve made so many great memories with our sister city courts; thank you to everyone for their love, care, support, and generosity!!!!!!! Our friendships and memories will always be a huge part of us and we hope to continue to keep in contact with you all!!!!!

On Saturday, 4/18, the new, 2009 NorCal court and the visiting courts were given a tour of San Francisco by our Hospitality Chair, Mr. Hamilton Niwa. We hope you enjoyed your stay here!!

Later that day, the 2008 Court and Mr. Graig and Sean Inaba (Hospitality) prepared and hosted a special Hospitality Royal Reception Dinner for the guests. We hope you enjoyed all the food!!
(2008 + 2009 NCCBF Courts) CONGRATS TO THE 2009 COURT!!

Here, 2008 Princess Asuka Nagase was presented [by Mr. Benh Nakajo on behalf of the Committee] with gifts that exemplified her and her work on this blog and in other ways (photography, artwork, etc.) throughout her court year. Now in first-person grammar, I will speak in regards to this. This was completely unexpected, and I truly appreciate Mrs. Miki Katsuyama Novitski and the rest of the 2008/2009 Queen Program Committee members for your generosity. I love all of the cute gifts and will cherish them all. Receiving this made me emotional and this really touched my heart. Through this Program, I gained friendships with many people (including my “Sakura Sisters”); personal growth; a further appreciation towards the JA community, my family, and friends; and learned the meanings of life, love, care, and all other aspects of living and breathing. In anything, it is not about the title or the prize; it is about what one personally acquires from each of his/her experience through contribution and participation. I worked as hard as I could, and I know everyone else has done so too. THANK YOU for this wonderful experience and opportunity. Words cannot express my appreciation enough; this is only a summary. As I’ve said in the Nichi Bei Times Festival Official Guide, I am so grateful and feel so fortunate to have been one of the cherry blossom petals to bloom in Japantown. I know this sounds cheesy, but I mean it; I love you guys and I feel so lucky to have you guys. ICHINEN’KAN+ OSEWA NI NARIMASHITA. It has been my pleasure updating this blog site to share our experiences. Thank you to Ms. Cara Mia Barnacascel and my sakura sisters in contributing to this blog too; Cara Mia, without you, we could not have launched this site!!

Other photos from the dinner:
(2008 Court w/ Miki)
(guests/chaperones from LA (Michelle and Jennifer), Seattle (Jana), and HI (Cheryl))
(guests/hospitality committee members/chaperones from HI (Wedge) and LA (Andy and Leiton)
(more guests/committee members, incl. Inoue family, Tosh, Uncle Bobby and Auntie Marian from LA, Mr. Alan Yamada from Seattle)
(guests Mr. Nobuyuki Okada from LA and Mr. Ray Urabe from Hawai’i)
(Thank You for your love and support, Mitch and Ann!!)
(guests from Honolulu; the 2009 HCBF Court and Mr. Ray Yamamoto)
(2008 Greater Seattle JQS Court & NorCal CB Court)
(2008 Nisei Week Court & NorCal CB Court
We apologize that we cannot upload every single picture taken; there are many more people who were in attendance and whom we would like to thank.

Our “reign” has officially ended, but we’re not done yet! There’s one more weekend of official duties. Thank you to all who have supported us throughout our court year.

(from left to right: Princess/Klara Ma Award Recipient Midori Iwata, First Princess Miwa Natsuki, Queen Ali Kagawa, Princess/Tomodachi Award Recipient Rie Watanabe, Princess Asuka Nagase)

We are very proud to announce the 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen and Court, who were crowned/named last Saturday (The following photos were taken by Mr. David Yu <http://www.pbase.com/davidyuweb/cb_queen_program_2009>; Thank You!):

Queen + Tomodachi Award Recipient Eri Tagaya

First Princess Sarah Kasuga
Princess Mari Masuko
Princess Yurika Vu
Princess Stephanie Hata
Princess Margaret Cheney

For more info, check out our homepage: http://www.nccbfqueenprogram.org

Also, 2008 Princess Midori received the Klara Ma Community Service Award. Omedetou!

Congratulations to the 2009 Queen and Court!!!!!!!!!!!!! We, the 2008 Court are soooooo proud of you ladies!!!!!!!!! We wish you all the best of luck in this great journey. Our’s is almost coming to an end! We truly appreciate everyone’s love and support throughout our Court year!

Please enjoy the rest of the Festival!!! See you there!

We were invited to attend the Japanese American Religious Federation’s 5th Annual Curry Cook-off at the C.U.P.C. in Japantown today. Queen Ali Kagawa was one of the “Celebrity Judges,” and later joined her Court members Miwa, Rie, Midori, and Asuka, in serving the curry to the guests and members. We had the opportunity to taste 9 different kinds of creative curry, made by various people, including chefs, and vote on them. This was our last volunteering event of our court year/reign. We appreciate JARF for allowing us to serve the community one last time before this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival.

One year ago, we were candidates just like this year’s 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Candidates. This year’s festival is already coming up so soon (next weekend and the following weekend). We are very proud to introduce the new candidates. Please refer to the Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Program website: http://www.nccbfqueenprogram.org to view photos and profiles, as well as information about the Queen Program. For more information regarding our Festival, visit the Festival website: http://www.nccbf.org. We hope that you will cheer our new sakura sisters on, and to also check out what we’ve done as a court this past year. Thank you for your continuous support, everyone! Please come and enjoy the festivities! Also, pick up a copy of the Nichi Bei Times Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival 2009 Official Guide! In addition, there is an article by Hokubei Mainichi as well: http://www.hokubei.com/en/news/2009/03/Meet-Candidates-Six-Seek-Title-Cherry-Blossom-Queen

ALO~HA!!! The Sakura Sisters have returned from O’ahu, Hawai’i!!!!!!! We had such an awesome trip, enjoying what the island has to offer and seeing everyone from the Cherry Blossom “Ohana.” This is definitely one of the most memorable experiences being a part of this special “Ohana.” Our Sister City Courts and committee members from Seattle, Los Angeles, and Honolulu came to our Festival in April last year, we went to Seattle in May last year, LA in August last year, and this March, we visited O’ahu, Hawai’i.
We are so grateful to the generous Hospitality Committee members for their efforts in making this trip fantastic and fun! We’re so glad we got to visit the famous hot spots, eat the ONO food, and participate in activities (i.e., paddle-boarding)!!!!!! MAHALO!!! “Four Festivals…Together Again.“– Hawai’i Hospitality Committee.
We had a ton of fun getting to know our sisters (from the other courts) more (Greater Seattle Japanese Community Queen Scholarship Program Court, Nisei Week Japanese Festival Court, and Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce Cherry Blossom Festival Court). Thank you for your friendship! We also enjoyed attending the 57th Cherry Blossom Festival Ball. Congratulations to the new, 2009 Queen and her Court!!! We give props to all the semi-finalists as well. You all did such a great job!!!













There are sooo many more photos that were taken!!
To our Cherry Blossom “Ohana” (Courts, Hospitality Committees, Chaperones): See you again real soon!!

Today, the six new Queen candidates made their first public appearance at the 2009 NC Cherry Blossom Festival Preview Day after a press conference. At the press conference, they gave introductions, met their sponsors, and were interviewed by the press. We were delighted to see the candidates speak and we are so proud of them. We wish them the best of luck.

We were cordially invited to attend the Clarendon Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program Elementary School’s annual Auction event. We appreciate their generosity and making us feel so at home at the event. It was nice seeing all of the wonderful auction items on display, and we hope that the event had a great turn-out for Clarendon JBBP, the elementary school that Princess Asuka graduated from back in 1998. We had such a fun time seeing/meeting guests, parents, teachers, and JBBP/JA community leaders/members.

Today, we met the six new candidates of the 2009 Cherry Blossom Queen Program. We wish them good luck in the whole process and we are so excited for their court year. Like our’s, we hope that their court year will be filled with ever-lasting memories and great encounters!