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 [...]
Portland-based Allport Editions, a Hokusei partner company publishing high-quality greeting cards, recently attended the International Stationery & Office Products Fair Tokyo (ISOT). ISOT is Japan's largest stationery & office products trade fair, offering the opportunity for Japanese retailers and wholesalers to source new products. Allport Editions owner Mackenzie Jeans attended this year's ISOT, and presented Japanese buyers with a wide [...]
Hokusei Products President Shotaro Tomita and his staff from Japan visited Oregon in late-May and early-June, to cement existing trading relationships and explore new import/export opportunities. During the May 29 - June 1 timeframe, President Tomita visited Portland firms & organizations that Hokusei has worked with in the past, including the Portland Japanese Garden, Allport Editions, and Portland Gear. In [...]
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 [...]
On April 22, Hokusei Products (Japan) and Hokusei North America President Shotaro Tomita met with the King Carl and Queen Silvia of Sweden in Tokyo. The Royal Swedish couple visited Japan to commemorate 150 years of diplomatic relations between Sweden and Japan. King Carl asked some questions on ICEBUG shoes. President Tomita was invited to meet with the [...]
Last month and in advance of the summer travel season, Travel Oregon launched a new video promoting Oregon tourism. What makes this video different than most other travel promotion videos is that it is made in the Japanese anime style. The video is a nod to the famous Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animator of such classic films as Totoro, [...]