2019 marks the 60th year of Portland's sister city relationship with Sapporo, the largest city on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Since its start in 1959, this relationship has lead to numerous educational and cultural exchanges between the two cities. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of this special sister city relationship, a number of events will take place in 2019. [...]
The Holiday Season is a great time to be in Portland, filled with various events that can be enjoyed by young and old, locals and visitors alike. It's important to take time out from day-to-day work and home activities to really enjoy the Holidays -- to do some recommended activities and events that are most popular among Portlanders: A Pittock [...]
The day after Thanksgiving, November 23, marked the 34th annual Christmas Tree lighting in Portland's Pioneer Square. The 75 foot tall tree was grown in Oregon, and was decorated with 14,000 lights. To heighten the mood of the festivity, Portland's famed Pink Martini musical group lead tree lighting event attendees in a holiday sing-along. The Christmas Tree lighting kicks off [...]
2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the Portland - Sapporo sister city relationship. In honor of the lengthy ties between these two cities, the Portland Japanese Garden gift shop plans to offer a number of products made by Sapporo craftspeople. In preparation for this, staff from the Portland Japanese garden recently attended the "Sapporo Style" event hosted by the Sapporo [...]
Hokusei North America is very honored to be mentioned on the Portland Japanese Garden's web site. It has been our honor to work with the Japanese Garden, to allow it to offer unique and authentic gifts to visitors from around the world. And, we look forward to continued work with this very special place in Portland. The Portland Japanese Garden [...]
As is the case in Japan, August is typically the hottest month of the year in Portland. To cool off, Portlanders often go the Oregon Coast to cool down with the cold ocean breezes. Other Portland residents head off to the Columbia River Gorge area to swim in the Sandy or Washougal Rivers. For those of us who can't easily [...]
Every year from late-May to early-June, Portland holds its annual Rose Festival. This festival first took place in 1907 and is one of Portland's most-attended events, with roughly 1.2 million people enjoying various Rose Festival activities. The Rose Festival is meant to promote the Portland region, and is timed to take place when Portland's famous rose gardens are in full [...]
The historic Meier & Frank Building, in downtown Portland, Oregon. As a growing sign of strong ties between Japan and Portland, it was reported last week the MUJI, one of Japan's most popular retailers, will establish one of its largest stores outside Japan in downtown Portland. The store location is said to the Meier-Frank Building, which is centrally-located [...]
The cherry blossoms are looking beautiful around the Portland area this week but as is often the case, the weather likely won't allow for a sunny, warm and dry hanami (flower viewing) picnic. The situation in southern and central Japan may be a little more conducive to hanami this weekend as the forecast calls for sunny weather. Look here for [...]
Earlier this month, the Willamette Week published a list of "Reasons to love Portland right now." Coming in at number 9 was the very intriguing possibility of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma designing major new construction in the South Waterfront are of downtown. Undoubtedly, significant negotiations would need to take place to accommodate these proposed towers which are nearly twice as [...]