The Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition (SAJCC) is established to unify the greater Japanese community in Tucson and Southern Arizona. The SAJCC shall be an organization for Japanese American families and individuals, Japanese Nationals and their families, people and organizations promoting the Japanese language, arts, and cultural activities, and anyone interested in Japanese culture. The SAJCC is meant to be inclusive.

As part of the SAJCC, we have launched a website, www.southernazjapan.org, highlighting the January 2013 grand opening of the Yume Japanese Gardens at 2130 N. Alvernon Way, where our group has been meeting. We hope to be able to sponsor events at that beautiful garden created by Executive director/founder Patricia Deridder, who lived in Japan for 15 years.

The website has a directory of Japanese cultural and educational groups as a resource, a calendar of ongoing activities and flyers of upcoming events, information about Japanese culture in Southern Arizona, such as the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site on the road up to Mt. Lemmon.

I’ve posted a few of my previous articles from the www.Tucsoncitizen.com/community on this website, as I’ve been covering Japanese cultural issues for over three years now, such as the annual speech contest in April, dance & taiko performances, the monthly origami club meetings, koi association tour events. I also teach hanafuda (flower card game) at the Tucson Japanese Culture & Origami Meetup group on the 1st Saturday of the month (or when I able to attend).

Upcoming: Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) concert at the Yume Japanese Gardens on March 8, and the 11th Annual Japanese Speech Contest on April 20 at Pima Community College West campus. The latter will have booths/exhibitions from the various aspects of Japanese culture: go board game, origami, koi, temari balls, food, martial arts, kyudo (archery), calligraphy, ikebana, taiko drumming, etc. I look forward to eating arare snack crackers every year at this speech contest, and listening to the talented young people speak Japanese.

Please check out our SAJCC website and please let us know of any events or topics of interest to the Japanese community, such as movies, art shows, cultural events.

Yume Japanese Gardens is the living expression of an ancient Japanese heritage. Covering three quarters of an acre in Tucson, Arizona, it comprises five traditional visions of landscape. In each, nature is balanced by the human hand to render the serene elegance and subtle spirit of an authentic Japanese garden.

On Monday I posted a story that a lovely, new Japanese garden is to open to the public this coming Saturday, January 19, at 9:30 a.m. Click here for previous article. This garden is the first Japanese garden in Tucson, and will become a new tourist attraction for Tucson.

On January 15 I was one of the lucky few invited to the V.I.P/media grand opening at the Yume Japanese Gardens, 2130 N. Alvernon Way, due south of the Tucson Botanical Gardens. At the opening there was a blessing by a Zen Buddhist priestess, taiko drumming by Odaiko Sonora, a tea ceremony, platters of sushi & souvenir cedar cups of sake (Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice). There were even bonsai on display and a young golden koi named “Yume” was released into the koi pond.

The priestess Daien Bennape said that founder/executive director Patricia Deridder created these gardens out of her “love of beauty, nature, the invisible and visible worlds”. The garden name is “yume” meaning dream in Japanese, since it was obviously the dream/vision of Patricia’s to create this oasis in the desert. I saw this dirt lot in midtown that Patricia purchased a few years ago amazingly transform into a lovely, tranquil place of beauty.

Yume is Tucson’s “first and only public, non-profit Japanese Garden and is designed according to Japanese landscaping traditions”. Patricia Deridder lived in Japan for 15 years and became inspired to build such a lovely garden here in Tucson. Membership levels are available on their website (www.tucsonjapanesegardens.com) for those of you who want to visit more often. All photos were taken by me at the grand opening of some of the various smaller gardens & features at this attraction.

Japanese tea ceremony, with Fukumi Zapp and Saburo Sakai

Taiko drumming by Odaiko Sonora with Karen Falkenstrom and Marnie Sharp

Yume Japanese Gardens are indeed lovely yet tranquil, a true gem for visitors to enjoy nature, to reflect upon Life, and admire Japanese landscape beauty. The parting shot I took was this unique ikebana arrangement at the tea house, with its fleeting shadow.

Yes, a beautiful and peaceful Japanese garden has been created in Tucson at 2130 N. Alvernon Way, just due south of the Tucson Botanical Garden on the same side of the street. Press release:

Tucson and its tourist economy gain the area’s first authentic Japanese garden and a unique new visitor attraction. The non-profit Gardens are located at 2130 Alvernon Way, immediately south of the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Yume Japanese Gardens showcases five traditional Japanese garden designs on three quarters of an acre. While many of the more than 250 other Japanese gardens in the U.S. are larger, Yume is the southernmost garden in the West and the closest garden to Mexico, making it a convenient destination for travelers from across the border as well as from across the Southwest. The Gardens are projected to draw as many as 20,000 visitors during the first year of operation.

“Yume means “dream” in Japanese,” says the Gardens founder and executive director Patricia Deridder, a Belgian who developed her love of Japanese gardens during a 15-year stay in Japan as a young woman. “It has always been my dream to create an authentic Japanese garden to introduce people to the creative force of Japanese culture.”

Deridder adds, “Yume is a place where you can get in touch with nature and with yourself.” Revealing pathways and layered plantings offer intimate courtyard views of classical Japanese imagery. A Zen contemplative garden, a stone and gravel garden representing sea and islands, and a tranquil strolling pond garden with koi provide further examples of Japanese garden styles. The Gardens were under construction for nearly a year.

Several of us in the Japanese American community were treated to a sneak preview of the garden in October and these three photos were taken by Lew Stallman, husband of Sachiko Suzuki Stallman, who is originally from Japan.

The public is invited begin visiting the Yume Japanese Garden on Saturday January 19, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thanks to the vision, creativity and generosity of Patricia Deridder, this beautiful addition to the gardens of Tucson will be a welcome treat to both locals and visitors. I especially love the koi pond which is the highlight of the garden (see photo below).

For more information contact Assistant Director Allen Boraiko at (520)343-0926 or email P. Deridder at yume@tucsonjapanesegardens.com.

Ticket prices:
Adult $9
Senior (65 & over) $7
Students/Military (with ID) $6
Children ages 3 to 15 $5
Children 2 and under FREE

Group rates (10 or more, need 2 weeks advance booking, one payment): $8, Seniors/Military $6, Students/Children $4

Website: www.tucsonjapanesegardens.com, phone (520) 445-2957.5

Photos of January 15 invitation only grand opening: http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2013/01/16/yume-japanese-gardens-grand-opening-photos/