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UID:3223@coolcleveland.com
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20260719
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20260720
DTSTAMP:20260714T201449Z
URL:https://coolcleveland.com/events/japanese-obon-festival-returns-to-sha
 ker-heights/
SUMMARY:Japanese Obon Festival Returns to Shaker Heights
DESCRIPTION:\nSun 7/19 @ noon-3PM\nThe Cleveland Obon Festival\, a Japanese
  festival honoring the ancestors\, is celebrating its 81st annual event th
 is year. It debuted immediately after World War II\, a dark era (which is 
 sadly being echoed today) for Japanese-Americans\, when many were sent to 
 isolated concentration camps. Two-thirds were citizens.\nFollowing their r
 elease from the camps and having lost their homes and businesses on the We
 st Coast where most had lived\, many Japanese came east to cities such as 
 Chicago and Cleveland to establish new communities. And surely a festival 
 paying homage to the generations that preceded it felt like an essential e
 lement of survival.\nThis festival\, taking place at the Unitarian Univers
 alist Society in Shaker Heights\, is free and open to all to savor the cul
 tural riches Japanese brought with them to Northeast Ohio\, including Japa
 nese folk dance by the ShoJoJi Dancers\, one of the event sponsors\; Taiko
  drumming by Yume Daiko\; and a demonstration of the Japanese martial art 
 of aikido by North Coast Aikido. Shiba Teriyaki will be onsite with food a
 nd refreshment. The event page says “Maneko Neko” will also be there b
 ut it’s unclear what they will do. Probably sleep. (“Maneko-neko is th
 e Japanese waving cat.)\nThe event takes place on the church’s spacious 
 lawn\; bring a chair or blanket. (It will move indoors if weather is bad.)
 \nthe-first-unitarian-church-of-cleveland/cleveland-obon-festival/\n[mappr
 ess mapid="1579"]
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://coolcleveland.com/wp-content/uploads/202
 6/07/Obon.jpg
CATEGORIES:Dance,Sport,RSS,Free,Preview,Anastasia Pantsios,Music:
 Popular,Outdoors,----WRITERS----,Drinks,Performance,Eats,Entrepreneurialis
 m,Education,Culture,Kids,Teen,college
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DTSTART:20260308T030000
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