Video by Melanie Whyte
A mix of colorful kimonos and volunteer T-shirts welcomed guests at the entrance of the Japanese Friendship Garden for the annual Otsukimi Moonviewing Festival.
The tickets were replaced with pamphlets and guests walked away from the lit sign-in booth into the darkness.
The moon everyone had come for peeked from behind the apartment complex next door — as if it had stage fright. Lanterns lined the pathway around the koi pond to make up for lost moonlight.
Each step brought people closer to the next carefully placed booth or entertainer. People were drawn toward the calligraphy booth where their names were written by sound, not letter.
Further along the path, the bar was crowded with people excited to try sake for the first or second or third time. Japanese food trucks awaited the guests in the parking lot to soak up the sake.
Music from traditional Japanese instruments chased guests across the pond and met them at the gate to the tea house.
Women helped the unbalanced take their shoes off to enter the small structure where they served matcha, traditional Japanese green tea, and a sweet while they taught about Japan’s honored tea ceremony.
Classical Japanese dancers performed on the bridge that crossed the pond, giving the illusion they were floating on water.
The night ended with a peek into a telescope at the more confident and visible moon.
Contact the reporter at Melanie.Whyte@asu.edu.
