Japan Booth at The International Fair

Look at these Dorayaki I made! Dorayaki is a traditional Japanese sweet that uses sweet adzuki bean paste sandwiched between these sweet pancakes.

There was an international fair at my daughter’s school in early June. I brought the Dorayaki for our Japan booth for sale! The International Fair is held every year as a part of the school’s fundraising event. All the sales were donated to the school in support of two local nonprofits.

We wanted to wear Japanese festival jackets called Happi (法被）for the festival, but since we don’t have them, one of my friends made Daruma-shaped pins for us! Daruma is a good luck charm in Japan.

A month before the festival, my Japanese friends and I talked about what activities we could do for our booth and we decided to do the following:

We sold Takoyaki (Octopus balls), Ramune (Japanese soda), and Dorayaki. We also had some activities, including a bouncy ball scooping game and traditional Japanese games.

It was a really nice day!

Doesn’t our booth look amazing!?

There were booths representing China, South Korea, South Africa, the UK, France, Germany, and the U.S. at the event. I could feel the parents’ and the teachers’ excitement to start the festival when they were getting their booths ready! I loved seeing and trying new food and games that each country brought to the festival. For our booth, Japanese Ramune soda and the bouncy ball schooping were very popular and also takoyaki sold well too!

For Dorayaki… It actually didn’t sell well… I guess because the weather was so hot? Maybe the Dorayaki was too big? Or maybe people aren’t a big fan of sweet bean paste? haha

But I was able to sell all the Dorayaki by the end of the festival. Do you know how? hehe I did “Buy one Get one free!”

I think I should have displayed my dorayaki more nicely on the table and made a nicer flyer, hehe… I’ve got a lot of ideas for the next year! I’m already excited! I was so grateful for the people who came to our booth and I also enjoyed my time volunteering the whole day!

When I left Japan about 11 years ago and moved to the U.S., I immediately started noticing all the differences with how I used to live in Japan.

We are so different, but we have some similarities. Also, you can find things that you think would be nice if Japan adopted to become a better place. Also, you notice the things that you like about your own country. I think if you are outside of your country, you will have a chance to learn and think a lot about yourself and your country. I think it is so meaningful and fun.

This is a different topic but I also made marshmallow cereal bars for the American booth.

Add your favorite cereal with melted butter and marshmallows and let it sit until it becomes cooler.

It was so easy to make and it is so yummy too!!

My husband worked so hard at the American Booth!

America is one of my important countries too. America is a country that accepted me as a foreigner. America is the place that has given me so many opportunities and possibilities for my future. America has taught me that failure is not shameful and not something to be blamed for. Failure is necessary and a part of the process for achieving your goal. There is no such perfect country, and there are no perfect people; that is why we need to forgive and learn how to accept each other. It is ok to be different and I think the differences are beautiful.