Japan Day @ Central Park! I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 6 years and have never seen so many people, Asian or non, at the 96 St subway station. Tens of thousands of people came out to take enjoy the fantastic weather, with a sudden spring shower interruption, in New York City’s Central Park with a festival of Japanese sights, sounds and tastes.

Between me and photographer Tina Chou, we hung out from start to finish. Tina caught the morning marathon and we both got to meet Jpop singer Ai Kawashima. Here’s a couple pics from the day. Tina will be uploading her gallery soon!

Orange Pekoe was the last act of the day, and right before their performance it started raining. (>_<) Rain was unexpected, so of course a lot of people panicked and ran to the subway. People who brought umbrellas to keep off the sun luckily now had umbrellas to keep off the rain. The umbrella-less were offered shelter by festival workers under all the tents that were set up for food and games. The more adventurous decided to just get wet — and it all paid off for everyone who stayed, after just a few songs into Orange Pekoe’s set, the sun came back out. By the time Orange Pekoe finished up, you’d never known it’d rained at all. The remaining crowd got a special treat as Orange Pekoe, Ai Kawashima, Yaz Band, Taro Masuda, and Soichi Muraji all came out together for one last song to close out the festival.