April 7-13, 2005

mixpicks

Double-Cherry Sunday

by Juliet Fletcher

Cultural festival

One minute the ground's frozen, the next the humidity's rising into summer — but spring, which feels so brief, has been extended this year. Or at least so has the Cherry Blossom festival, the city's annual celebration of the ubiquitous fluffy pink trees and sampling of Japanese culture. This year, for the first time, the festival stretches into an entire second week — and this weekend, the centerpiece event, Sakura Sunday, will fill Fairmount Park with martial arts demonstrations and dancing, tours of the Shofuso Japanese house and authentic foods available for purchase. Ikebana flower arrangement demos will jostle for time with a kite-making workshop, and the day will commence with a greeting by the Cherry Blossom Queen (an Asian-American Miss-World-alike traditionally crowned at the start of each festival).

The rest of the week offers hands-on lessons in the classic Japanese tea ceremony, and the festival travels around the city to venues like the Morris Arboretum and Roy's Restaurant. And if you're looking for a slice of hard-nosed Japanese urban culture, Hiroyuki Suzuki will shock you with tales of his former life as a member of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza -- where the swordplay they engaged in wasn't ceremonial but deadly serious.

Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival, runs through April 16; Sakura Sunday, April 10, 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., free, Horticulture Center, Fairmount Park, Montgomery Drive and Belmont Avenue. Hiroyuki Suzuki, April 15, 6:30 p.m. lecture, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. screenings of documentary, $3-$4 Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania, 34th and Spruce sts., 215-790-3810, www.jasgp.org/sakura.