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Denver Japanese Schools Celebrate New Year (1/7/2012, 1/8/2012)
With the start of the new year, the Colorado Japanese School held its "Kotohajime no Kai" festival on January 7th and the Japanese School of Denver celebrated with its "Hatsuharu no Kai" on January 8th.
Both events featured the traditional pounding of rice into "mochi" rice cakes by students from kindergarten through junior high, as well as other cultural activities such as calligraphy.
Various guests attended the festivals, including Consul-General and Mrs. Ono, consuls and staff members from the Consulate-General of Japan at Denver.
The Colorado Japanese School welcomed professional soccer players Kosuke Kimura of the Colorado Rapids and Masaki Hemmi from FB Gulbene in the Latvian Higher League, who enjoyed pounding 'mochi' along with Deputy Consul-General Oyama.
Principal Hideko Shimizu of the Japanese School of Denver welcomed Consul-General, to participate in the 'mochi' pounding.
A total of approximately 200 students study Japanese language, Japanese curriculam and culture at these two schools in Denver.