Welcome to the 59th Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival! Rain or shine, it will be an honor to have you join us for another exciting festival and celebrate another fun festival. 

Yuki and I have the privilege to be your Co-chairs again for this year. While every year of the Festival is an important one, this year is especially important for me as it is my last year in this role. I would like to thank all of the patrons of the Festival, as nothing makes me happier than seeing a packed crowd full of smiling faces, having a great time. Seeing everyone enjoy themselves is validation for all of the dedication and hard work that has been put into planning this Festival, which could not have been possible without the efforts of the Executive Committee, General Committee, volunteers, sponsors and community partners. I am proud and honored to have served with such hard working individuals and would not be where I am today without them, and knows the festival will be left in the best hands. 

While we wait one more year for the beloved Peace Plaza to finish renovations, we still plan on having another amazing Festival! The expansion of Sutter St last year was a success so we have included that space again for this year, so make sure to stop by and check out all the fun it has to offer during our first weekend (April 11-12).  

Another exciting addition for this year includes activating the Kanda Mikoshi, a mikoshi that was generously gifted to the Festival from the Kanda Myojin Shrine, located in Tokyo, Japan. The Kanda Myojin Shrine is over 1000 years old and is known for their amazing Kanda Matsuri, which includes a parade of over 200 mikoshi’s that march down the streets of Akihabara. The Kanda Mikoshi will be purified a day before the Grand Parade and this purification ceremony for the Kanda Mikoshi will be extra special as we will also be purifying the cherry blossom trees that are located on Osaka Way, as these trees will be relocated during the Osaka Way Renovation project, which will begin after this year’s festival. 

We are also excited to welcome the Parade Grand Marshal Atsuko Okatsuka, and our Community Marshals PJ and Roy Hirabayashi and Steve Nakajo. 

This year brings on many fun and exciting events and we truly look forward to experiencing it with you. Thank you again, and can’t wait to see everyone soon.

Yuki Nishimura and Matthew Nagatomi

Co-Chairs 

59th Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival