DC: Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival

Yesterday, we went downtown for the final day of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. There were all kinds of things going on, and it was hard to pick. There was the big parade (we saw a firetruck full of really creepy clowns on its way there, and any lingering doubts about heading to the parade were vanquished), a whole bunch of family activities at Yards Park like Lantern Making, and performances around the Tidal Basin. I figured that going to the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival would get in my craving for Japanese food, we would see some performances, see if there were any goods to buy, and then still have time to do something else down in DC with the rest of the day.

First things first, there were a lot of people. This was next to the booth I got food from (tempura donburi and chicken with tonkatsu sauce) around 1pm. I am short so you can't see, but the lines of people stretched across the road and down the whole 8 blocks of the festival.

There were four stages set up around the festival playing very different kinds of music. This was the J*Pop stage. We had no idea who these guys were or what they were saying, but the people in the front of the crowd were really into the music, so that was cool.