Close to 900 celebrate Japan Day
4 Mar 2013
Christine, Alison, Sylvie and Carole in traditional kimonos from Mrs Motojima's garde-robe... the transformation requires no less than an hour and a half of patient and artful adjustments.
Close to 900 people—a record for the ITER canteen—attended Japan Day on Monday 4 March, the latest National Day celebration at the ITER Organization.
ITER's celebration coincided with a Japanese tradition called Hinamatsuri, or Girls' Festival, celebrated on 3 March—a day to pray for a young girl's growth and happiness. In the weeks leading up to this festival, most families with girls display ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in the traditional court dress of the Heian period, and arranged on a five- or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet.
At the luncheon attended by the Consul General of Japan in Marseille, Masaaki Sato, and his wife, traditional Japanese dishes were prepared by ITER's Sodexo food service: kenchin soup and either an oyako or tamago rice bowl.
The ITER band accompanied singers Michiya Shimada, Sachiko Ishizaka, and Arata Nishimura from the ITER Organization and Masao Ishikawa (JAEA) in a selection of Japanese pop and folk tunes known in the West as "Sukiyaki" songs, that inspired some members of the assembly to join in.