There's no reason why New Year's should only be celebrated on January 1st. In Portland, there are two more upcoming events to mark the Oshōgatsu season: JASO's New Year's event on January 17th and Mochitsuki on January 27th. Both are great ways to celebrate and reconnect with friends in the community as well as enjoy a lot of tasty holiday [...]
We at Hokusei North America would like to wish all of our customers, partners, and parent company associates a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2019. According to the Chinese zodiac celebrated in Japan, 2019 is the "Year of the Boar". In Japan, boars are thought to be considerate, independent, responsible, and optimistic creatures. We at Hokusei North America certainly [...]
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 [...]
An outdoor retail chain in Hokkaido wanted Canadian-made Esquif canoes. The Quebec-based company had canoes ready to for export. Yet somehow, the canoes never made their way to Japan despite considerable consumer interest. Enter Hokusei North America to manage purchasing, logistics and export and within a few months, Esquif canoes made their Japanese debut. Attached is some recent press about [...]
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 [...]