We attended at Carmel International Art Festival from September 20 to 26.
Three of us attended as Japanese artists ; flower arrangement, hand painting on pottery and calligraphy artists, and one from KIFA office. All of us stayed at host families'.
The locality ground is coverd with green lawn and elegant houses stand there peacefully. Time itself seemed like to pass peacefully and slowly and I felt my spirit relax in this beautiful enviromnent.
There were signboards and gates written "Carmel Arts & Design District”here and there and it seems clear to me that the people cherish art and design very much. And on the streets and in the park there were statues which look as if they are alive. If it were in Japan, they might not be allowed because some people might say "They are not safe for people walking" or "Children might bump against them"... People in Carmel seem to be more open and generous minded for art.
We visited the fire station and were overwhelmed by the size of the fire engines. They are huge! When I sat on the driver's seat, the steering wheel was more than 60 cm across. The staff there explained for us about the devises of the building which help the quick dispatch and about the functionally designed fire fighter suits. T-shirts were on sale for 15 dollars and I bought one.
We met Mayor of Carmel, Mr. Brainard, at City Hall and talked for about 15 minutes. There was a photo frame of the first president of KIFA, Mr. Yamamoto, in the assembly hall and we were impressed knowing that he is acknowledged as an important person who suported to lay the foundation of sisiter city exchange of Carmel and Kawachinagano.
Then we visited "the smallest children's art gallery in the world" (resisterd in "Guiness Book") and the pictures painted by the children in Kawachinagano have been exhibited. Director, Ms. Ficara kindly mentioned "Pictures by Kawachinagano children are very interesting".
"The 9th Carmel International Art Festival" started at 11am on September 23rd. Many people came and visited our booth set in a jewely shop at the center of the festival site. A hanging scroll of kana calligraphy was put on the black panel at the front of the entrance, china and hand painted tea bowls were put on the table coverd with red rug together with a pitcher and flower arrangement, thus those items created Japanese atmosphere. Other pieces were on each table and we talked with the visiters about how we make those pieces or even demonstrated the procedure. I hope it helped understanding each other's culture and we all spent interesting time there. Outside the buildings, there were 125 booths selling pictures, hand-made accessories, crafts, clothes, calligraphy pieces by Amerincs who had studied in Japan etc., and also on the outdoor stage there were performance of piano, songs, dances and magic tricks.
Safe, high educational level, friendly people and beautiful localily; Carmel is a very charming sister city. I wish the friendship of the people of both citiezens will be prosperous and long standing.
We attended at Carmel International Art Festival from September 20 to 26.
There were signboards and gates written "Carmel Arts & Design District”here and there and it seems clear to me that the people cherish art and design very much. And on the streets and in the park there were statues which look as if they are alive. If it were in Japan, they might not be allowed because some people might say "They are not safe for people walking" or "Children might bump against them"... People in Carmel seem to be more open and generous minded for art.
We visited the fire station and were overwhelmed by the size of the fire engines. They are huge! When I sat on the driver's seat, the steering wheel was more than 60 cm across. The staff there explained for us about the devises of the building which help the quick dispatch and about the functionally designed fire fighter suits. T-shirts were on sale for 15 dollars and I bought one.
We met Mayor of Carmel, Mr. Brainard, at City Hall and talked for about 15 minutes. There was a photo frame of the first president of KIFA, Mr. Yamamoto, in the assembly hall and we were impressed knowing that he is acknowledged as an important person who suported to lay the foundation of sisiter city exchange of Carmel and Kawachinagano.
