Welcome from the 2024 Festival Co-Chairs
Welcome everyone to the 57th Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival! Thank you all for joining us as we celebrate another incredible year with you. We are honored to serve as Co-Chairs, bringing together our unique perspective and backgrounds to celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture and heritage with all of you. We – Matt […]
2023 Senior Appreciation Honorees
For the past 36 years, the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival has thanked seniors in the local Japanese American community for their volunteer services. Each year, honorees are nominated by local community organizations. We are inspired by their stories and honor these community heroes. NORIKO KUSUMOTONominated by the San Mateo Japanese American Community Center (SMJACC) […]
Meet the Artist: Brandt Fuse, 2023 Poster Designer
Sumofish artist and creator, Brandt Fuse, grew up in Hawaii with a love of fishing and anything ocean related. Studying abroad in Japan and working summers at Iconic t-shirt brand Cane Haul Road provided inspiration and life direction. Brandt relocated to the Bay Area in 1998, and after working at Osaki Design in Berkeley went […]
A Heartfelt Thank You
What a year 2020 turned out to be. While we could not come together physically in April, the connections we continue to make online have been a tremendous blessing and source of support. As November arrived, we want to take this opportunity to thank all of our contributors who help us maintain a sense of […]
Jade Chocolates Makes Everything Better
Jade Chocolates is one of the NCCBF Arts & Crafts Fair artisans known for their tantalizing bonbons, flavored Genmai chocolate bars, lilikoi and kalamansi lime truffles, as well as the rice paddies. All of their chocolates are handmade and produced in small batches to ensure the highest quality of ingredients. Jade Chocolates specializes in blending […]
The 2020 Food Bazaar
The NCCBF Food Bazaar is a crowd favorite. Visitors can taste the best Japanese outdoor festival foods prepared by various organizations from within the local Japanese community. The NCCBF Food Bazaar is unique in that all food vendors are non-profit organizations; for-profit, commercial food vendors and food trucks are prohibited. All sales directly benefit the […]
Tips for Photographers: the cherry blossom edition
Whether you’ve been a photographer for a few months or many years, the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival invites you to photograph or vlog the event! The Festival is entirely volunteer-run, which includes our photographers. We would deeply appreciate it if you would join our team. We sincerely want you to come and enjoy your […]
Festival Spotlight: How to Play the NCCBF Scavenger Hunt
Hello! NCCBF Scavenger Hunt Committee here and we wanted to teach you how to play the Scavenger Hunt games. First off, what is the NCCBF Scavenger Hunt? Officially, we are the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Scavenger Hunt (wow! That’s a mouthful). We are exclusive to the Festival in that we help you discover all […]
Q&A with Matt Nagatomi, Logistics Co-Chair
Matt Nagatomi became the Co-Chair of the Logistics Committee for the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (NCCBF) in 2012, but he first started volunteering in 2007 through the Japanese Community Youth Council. The program allowed him to volunteer at many events throughout the year and each offered a different experience to connect with the community. […]
Meet the Artist: Minran Zhang, 2018 Poster Designer
Minran Zhang designed the main artwork for the 2018 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival poster, program booklet cover, and the banner.  Minran was pursuing her M.A. in Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia when she created the original piece.  To our great fortune, her beautiful artwork landed in the […]