The UNL Japanese program will host the annual Japan Festival on March 8. The events are free and open to the public. This year’s festival will feature a calligraphy workshop, an origami workshop and a movie screening.
A calligraphy workshop will be led by Koichi Sato, who holds the second highest degree in the discipline and is qualified to teach as a shihan — a master calligrapher. He placed first in the national calligraphy contest twice and won hundreds of prizes during the 11 years of his formal schooling. The calligraphy workshop starts at 3:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union, Heritage Room.
An origami workshop will feature origami artist Linda Stephen who started the Japanese art of paper folding more than 20 years ago. Her commissioned origami artworks are now part of public and private collections in hotels, schools, city halls, opera houses, and corporations in Japan and the United States. The origami workshop is at 4:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union, Heritage Room.
The festival will close with a movie screening of “Cherry Blossoms” directed by Doris Dörrie. The movie will start at 7 p.m. in the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.
The Japan Festival is sponsored by the UNL's Japanese program and the Consulate General of Japan-Chicago.