MAPLE VIEWING FEST 紅葉狩り (Momijigari) coming this Sunday

by aleks

SJG • 10/18/16 - Peaceful shaded path behind the tea house garden

Maple Viewing Fest is rescheduled from the stormy last weekend to coming Sunday 11/23 from 10am to 5pm,  with special tours and attractions for visitors.  The garden looks truly splendid now, not just on Sunday, as the trees will continue to delight well past Momijigari celebrations.  Seattle Japanese Garden is a place to experience the fall's fleeting exquisiteness well into November,  when even the stubbornly slow-to-turn maples like shishigasira will finally acknowledge the season's change and all the ginkgo leaves will cover the ground like a golden snow.

SJG • 10/18/16 - A view from the west path  onto the sunny east path

SJG • 10/19/16 - Follow the stream 

Below is a link to a beautiful article just written by one of our guides, Corinne Kennedy for the 'official' SJG blog (this one being the 'community' blog).  She titled it  'Beyond Beauty: The Ephemeral Delights of Autumn':

Autumn is a beautiful time in Japan. Its mild, sunny weather, with colder nights, brings relief from the heat and humidity of summer. Maples and many other plants bring beautiful leaf colors, and some plants display late-appearing flowers or attractive berries. Our Seattle Japanese Garden manifests all of these aspects of autumn beauty. [...]

Nature, seasonal changes, and “insight into the truth of human existence” (Paul Varley, ibid.) are magically captured in the haiku form of poetry. Developed in 17th century Japan, it consists of three lines (5 syllables, 7 syllables, and finally 5 syllables). Here is a translation of an autumn haiku by the great poet Matsuo Basho (1644-94):

so very precious
and do they tint my tears? – the
fall of autumn leaves  [...]

The entire Corinne's article here...

SJG • 10/19/16 - A closer look at the loveliness of red-tipped maple leaves

SJG • 10/18/16 - Yellow flames of ginkgoes reflected in pond

Film Sugihara Chiune, "Persona Non Grata" 10/14 at Uptown

by aleks

After its world premiere in Lithuania in October 2015, a new film about Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, "Persona Non Grata," opens SPFF (Seattle Polish Film Festival) next Friday, October 14 at SIFF Cinema Uptown at 6:30 pm. Director Cellin Gluck will be present for the film screening, followed by Q &A.

The film tells the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who was posted in Lithuania during World War II, and who defied orders and issued over 2,000 transit visas to Jewish refugees, famously continuing to sign visas even as his train pulled away from the station. He is estimated to have saved over 6,000 lives from the Nazis, who invaded Lithuania a year later in 1941.

Directed by Japanese American Cellin Gluck, "Persona Non Grata" was filmed in Poland and stars Japanese actors Toshiaki Karasawa and Koyuki, and Polish actors Borys Szyc and Agnieszka Grochowska.

WHEN:  Friday, October 14th, 6:30 pm
WHERE: SIFF Cinema Uptown on 511 Queen Anne Ave N. Seattle 98109
You can buy tickets right before the film or on-line via SIIF; tickets and FB page here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1074238026023900/

Here is an informative article about the film from nippon.com...

And a January 2016 interview with Cellin Gluck, Director Of “Persona Non Grata,” from forward.com.

Trailer here: