Smyrna celebrates new year with Japanese traditions
RIGHT: Consul-General of Japan in Nashville Yoichi Matsumoto (front left) and Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed (right) pull open the Japanese New Year’s pinata at the Smyrna Event Center on Jan. 15.
Consul-General of Japan in Nashville Yoichi Matsumoto (front left) and Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed (right) pull open the Japanese New Year’s pinata at the Smyrna Event Center on Jan. 15.
Parents and students at the Middle Tennessee Japanese School in Murfreesboro review student-created Japanese calligraphy on display at the Smyrna Event Center for the Japanese New Year celebration.
ABOVE LEFT: Consul-General of Japan in Nashville Yoichi Matsumoto spoke in Japanese at the beginning of the Japanese New Year’s celebration. ABOVE RIGHT: Matsumoto, Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed and other guests stand at the entrance to the Smyrna Event Center. The three-character sign translates as “The year change means new Spring has come.”
Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed delivers a few remarks at the beginning of the Japanese New Year’s celebration at the Smyrna Event Center on Jan. 15.
Actor, model, and vocalist Nozomi Takasu accompanies herself on guitar at the Japanese New Year celebration at the Smyrna Event Center on Jan. 15.
Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed helps to prepare mochi for the Japanese New Year celebration at the Smyrna Event Center on Jan. 15. Reed is using a wooden mallet to pound the rice into paste.
Consul-General of Japan in Nashville Yoichi Matsumoto, Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed and other guests stand at the entrance to the Smyrna Event Center for the Japanese New Year celebration Jan. 15. The three-character sign translates as “The year change means new Spring has come.”
The Sakura choir performs for the Japanese New Year celebration Jan. 15 at the Smyrna Event Center.
Several hundred Japanese adults and children living in Tennessee and their American friends gathered at the Smyrna Event Center last week to participate in a traditional Japanese-style New Year’s celebration.
The Consul-General of Japan in Nashville Yoichi Matsumoto led the event, giving some remarks in Japanese at the beginning of the event.
Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed spoke about the town’s 30-year relationship with Zama City, Japan, and the Nissan plants in both locations. She said that the economic relationship with Nissan and Zama has developed into a more personal relationship with their Sister City. She praised former Zama City Mayor Mikio Endo, whom she has known since her time in high school when her family served as a host family for visiting Zama City officials.
Bridgestone Corporation in La Vergne also has many Japanese employees.
The sister city program is a part of the relationship between the U.S. State Department and the Emperor and Government of Japan’s Foreign Office. In a three-year cycle, Japanese students and Tennessee students visit each other’s countries and live in each other’s homes.
