Manga Events @ Sakura Matsuri - NYC - May 3 & 4

Renowned manga artist and Manga for Dummies author Kensuke Okabayashi presents a character-sketching lecture for all cartoon manga enthusiasts, meets visitors, and signs books.

THE LEGEND OF NINJA KOTARO - is a ninja cosplay spectacle by the Spinnin Ronin Martial Arts Dance Theater. Martial arts, acrobatics, and hip-hop are used to tell a story of adventure and intrigue.

A Japanese nature manga comics library offers families the chance to peruse hundreds of exquisitely illustrated nature-inspired comics provided by AnimeNEXT.

ZAN – one of the most popular young bands in Japan - sons of two of the most famous instrumentalists in that country, who have passed the gifts of the harp-like koto and shakuhachi (bamboo flute) to their sons. ZAN uses these traditional instruments to write and perform thoroughly contemporary Japanese pop. (They're flying in from Japan for the festival – a rare opportunity to see these guys)

GAIJIN A GO-GO - A mock Japanese pop band plays sequin-studded '60s swing-rock. The band members are mostly westerners, but they all have fake Japanese names. The charismatic lead singer, who calls herself Kiku Kimonolisa, is a 6-foot tall blond bombshell who used to live and model in Japan and speaks/sings Japanese.

SAKURA J-LOUNGE - Four top East Coast DJs spinning the finest in Japanese and Japanese-American music, each with his or her own distinctive style. DJ Saiko Mikan will be spinning the buoyant genre of late sixties Japanese rock...DJ Hayden Honey spinning pure Shibuya-kei, the fusion pop that exploded out of the uber-hip Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo. DJ Jaiko Suzuki with a set of seventies and eighties Japanese rock and pop, and Boston-based DJ 2Thirteen takes inspiration from his highly successful Boston radio show to spin anime-themed tunes.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
900 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
May 3 & 4
10am-6pm
www.bbg.org