Ties to Japan unshaken at cultural festival

Chris Parkins was glad he had Saturday’s performance of Japanese swordsmanship to focus on as he watched the horrific images broadcast from Japan in the hours and days after the worst earthquake and tsunami ever to hit the island nation.

Preparing to take the stage at the Washougal High School auditorium Saturday to demonstrate the art of Iaido as part of the school’s annual Japanese Festival, he said the past two days have been emotional. Parkins recently spent a year taking part in a teacher exchange program in the region of Japan near Sendai, the city that caught the brunt of the tsunami triggered by a magnitude-8.9 earthquake, the largest to hit Japan in history. The tsunami washed far inland, smashing towns, airports and highways and sweeping away houses and cars.

Hundreds of bodies have been found along the coast near Sendai, and hundreds of people are missing.

“I have friends and students of mine in Sendai,” Parkins said. “I’ve been able to contact friends in my prefecture, but I haven’t been able to reach friends in the area hardest hit. It’s very personal to me. It’s been good that I had this distraction to take my mind away from it. When you are doing the sword ceremony, you have to be calm.”

The disaster in Japan was on the minds of many who showed up for the annual celebration of Japanese culture.

Kadie Britton, a senior at Washougal High who is studying the Japanese language, came up with the idea of collecting donations for tsunami victims. She said the money will go to the Student Red Cross to buy shoes, soap, toothbrushes and other essentials for people who have lost everything.

Mieko Heriform, a woman of Japanese heritage, teaches the Way of the Tea, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, in her Ridgefield home. She is planning a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto next month and is unsure what to expect when she arrives.

Learning the Way of the Tea is a lifelong process, she said.

She is gratified that more adults are interested in learning the intricate ceremony. And now, she is teaching her grandchildren.

Kathie Durbin: 360-735-4523 or kathie.durbin@columbian.com.