Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto
在トロント日本国総領事館

 

 

 

Japan Comes to Harbourfront's

Fortune Cooking Food Festival

 

Parades, Cooking Demos and Yo-yo's Highlight Weekend when over 3500 Visitors Visit Japan Booth

 

The Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto’s Japan Information Centre (JIC) took part in the annual Fortune Cooking Food Festival at Harbourfront Centre August 12 to 14.

 

Although this was the second time the JIC introduced Japanese cuisine to festival attendants, this year, staff and volunteers manned booths promoting tourism to Japan, which had declined significantly after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11.  In addition to distributing printed literature, parades through the festival grounds featuring mikoshi (a portable Shinto shrine common to Japanese festivals) and lion dancers raised the already festive spirits of visitors.  Representatives from Japanese travel agents assisted during the three days during which the weather remained pleasant, and approximately 80,000 people visited Harbourfront, of whom over 3500 came to the Japanese tourism booth.

 

Japan Information Centre staff, along with volunteers and representatives from travel agencies, manned two booths promoting tourism to Japan during Harbourfront's Fortune Cooking Festival.

 

On the evening of August 13, Chef Matthew Kimura, who works for the Ginko Restaurant and is also a food consultant for the CBC’s Best Recipes Ever, gave a demonstration of a noodle recipe anyone can try at home using ingredients that can be purchased locally. Emceeing the demonstration attended by 250 people was popular CBC radio host Mary Ito.

 

JIC Director Masaya Otsuka gave remarks before the demonstration, assuring the audience on the safety of travel to Japan as well as that of Japanese food products. As well, a tourism promotional video featuring the popular Japanese singing group Arashi was projected onto the large screen on stage, as well as screened on a monitor in the Japan booth.

 

Left Photo: Chef Matthew Kimura (centre), assisted by his father Chef Shigeo Kimura (left), gives a cooking demonstration emceed by the CBC's Mary Ito (right). Right Photo: Japan Information Centre Director Masaya Otsuka assures the audience that travel to Japan is safe.

 

The mikoshi and lion dance parade was scheduled by festival organizers five times over the weekend. Many visitors were delighted and took many photographs of the ornamental mikoshi and humorous movements of the lion.

 

 

Left photo: The mikoshi and dancing lion make the rounds in a parade: Right photo: visitors look over the literature at the booth.

 

Children who came to the booth were also given traditional Japanese yo-yo’s made of water balloons as well as lessons in origami. Over 1000 yo-yo’s were given away by volunteers manning the booth, which consisted of alumni of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme as well as Japanese students studying English in Canada. Everyone participated enthusiastically, wearing colourful happi coats and supporting the JIC staff.

 

Children were given yo-yo's made of water balloons, a common sight at Japanese festivals.

 

The mikoshi and lion dance parade was shown as part of the news segment on Global Television on the Fortune Cooking Food Festival. Ms. Ito also kindly promoted the event on her weekend morning show Fresh Air. Many local Japanese Canadian media representatives were also on hand, so coverage is expected in the near future.

 

With the success of this event, the JIC aims to make use of other large events to promote tourism among the Canadian public. Please return often to this Website for further notices.