Hosted by Nishimachi International School & the Nishimachi-Kai

On Saturday, June 18, 2011, Nishimachi International School and the Nishimachi-Kai opened its doors once again to host the IACJapan Natsumatsuri event.

Although the weather wasn’t perfect, we had over 400 paying guests who signed up at the door and then helped us through cases of beer, wine and soft drinks, hamburgers & hotdogs, falafel and roast chicken.

As usual, we had the stage and basically all areas covered by tents to protect people from either the hot sun or rain, and luckily for all of us the rain didn’t start until around 3 p.m., just as the raffle drawings were held and the final band of the day had set up on stage.

The booths for the day began with registration, a massage tent, the ennichi area for kids to play games and do face painting, the Children’s Heartwork Project where kids could draw paintings to be sent to the kids in Tohoku, and then the food and beverage booths.

The entertainment for the day began from 10 a.m. with:

  • Noli Bravo and the Kaiona Project (Hawaiian & jazz);
  • Flatline, a heavy metal band with all alumni of St. Joseph’s International School from the classes of ’86 through ’89;
  • Mid-Life Crisis, with alumni (maybe a bit older?) from Yokohama International School and St. Joseph’s;
  • John Ken Nuzzo (St. Mary’s class of ’84) and his accompanist on piano, Mr. Go Nakajima, performing some wonderful opera and contemporary songs;
  • Vintage Mojo Groove with Paul Guilfoile (St. Mary’s class of ’73);
  • and Terry Christian and the Cool Hand Band, Nishimachi’s own, closing the show for the day!
  • The performers were really wonderful and kindly donated their time to help us entertain the crowd for the entire day. Hats off to all of you!

A big thanks to Nishimachi International School, to the Nishimachi-Kai and to the hardworking team of IACJapan members from Sacred Heart, St. Maur International School, St. Mary’s, American School in Japan, YIS, St. Joseph’s and Nishimachi.

Click here to see photos from the day. All photos courtesy of the IACJapan official photographer, Mr. Unryu Haku!

Paul Guilfoile
Chief Soulman
IACJapan