L’Instant Japon was a BIG success!
A lot of people attended this event, and many many people came to see Florence’s pictures throughout the three days. Thank you all!!!
Florence exhibited 18 pictures, and this one, “Sacred Temple” was the most popular of all:
This photo was shot at Okunoin, Koyasan. The temple is called Torodo (Lantern Hall), and those two designs represent Shingon Buddhism. Florence was lucky to have been able to capture this shot because the purple curtain was taken down shortly after this shot.
Back to l’instant Japon -
There were exhibitors of Japanese ceramics, knives, bonsais, mangas, origami, carpentry, etc. Lectures and presentations were given. Movies were shown. Shakuhachi concert was held. There were also demonstrations of various Japanese martial arts such as aikido, kendo, and kyudo as well as demonstrations of traditional tea ceremony. All that Japan!
What surprised me was that most exhibitors, lecturers, presenters, musicians, and demonstrators were non Japanese. They were French. In fact, it was very interesting to see some of those French people dressed properly in martial arts uniforms and behaved like Japanese. They looked even more Japanese than many Japanese people.
Many Japanese nowadays do not care much about those traditions. They are more interested in Western cultures. On the other hand, more and more Western people are becoming interested in learning Japanese traditional cultures.
Due to this big success, l’Instant Japon officials made a public announcement during the event about l’Instant Japon 2009. Florence has got a very good reason to visit Japan this year again!
