Sunday, April 09, 2023

56th Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (2023, San Francisco)

We arrived a bit past noon. Watched taiko drumming on the main stage. Bought a purple 2023 festival tee shirt. Ate street vendor fare: "soko"-yaki (takoyaki style balls but with beef instead of octopus); imagawayaki pastry; spam musubi; Sakura popcorn; and Sapporo sake.

Purchased a few bags of goods:
  • Nippon-Ya: Harajuku mochi chocolate, seasonal strawberry Ichigo mochi, cherry flavored mochi Sakura dango, and green tea sponge cake
  • Daikoku by Shiki: Replacement bowl and plate
  • Misaky Tokyo vendor table: Sakura flower crystal sweet treat Japanese delicacy (seaweed but tastes like chewy rock candy 🤩)
  • Kinokuniya San Francisco: book "The Art of the Wind Rises" by Hayao Miyazaki, and a GUND Pusheen Breakfast Surprise Plush Series #19, 3” (we got "Cereal")
Also bought Injeolmi Croissant, iced matcha latte, and iced yuja tea from Jina Bakes Bakery Cafe. While eating the injeolmi croissant, I laughed and blew roasted soy bean powder all over us 🙃 Thankfully Dawn was relatively nonplussed.

Walked upstairs to NEW PEOPLE 2nd floor late in the day. The 1st floor was still a tea shop but the store at the landing was shuttered. 


This weekend, the vendor stalls we usually saw next to Soko Hardware were missing. This was the first year we visited on the first weekend of festivities, so maybe next weekend more will appear (?) 

While transitioning, we watched the 2023 Queen and Court procession as they posed for a photo with a sponsor of the event. 

The Daihatsu HiJet Fire Engine (also known as Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck, aka teenytinyfiretruck) played music and drove past us while we ate our spam musubi and imagawayaki. 😎 🚒 🎵

Overall a pleasant event day!

Vendors we liked:

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